Code Vandread: Lelouch of the Nirvana
by Demon of Zero
Summary: He thought he had died. But the World of C was not supposed to be blue. Lelouch/Harem, Hibiki/Harem, and so on and so on.
1. Boy Meets Witch

I need to stop thinking up things that never get done. Why? Because then I feel the need to do them, and... meh. Anyway, if this gets past chapter one then... hurray?

I own neither Vandread nor Code Geass. If I owned either the Gawain or Shinkiro, I would be set. Sadly, I see this happening around the same time as the plot of Vandread occuring in reality.

On that note, is it bad that I think there is a distinct possibility that Men and Women seperating onto their own planets may happen?

* * *

It was all over. The blade pierced his chest, cutting in such a way that he would live a scant few more seconds. He spoke to his best friend and worst enemy, a bloody smile gracing his features. "You will... live apart from this world... as a symbol, rather than... a man."

And then he tumbled down the slope of his transport, rolling bonelessly to the bottom. He barely noticed himself being shaken, or the cries of "Big Brother!"

Just as he was prepared to close his eyes forever, he heard somthing clearly. "Big Brother, I love you!"

He smiled, and used strength he didn't know he had to reach a hand up, wiping away a tear from her face. "I destroy worlds... to... create... worlds."

These were the last words of the 99th Emperor of Britannia, the Demon Emperor, Lelouch vi Britannia.

* * *

A child of five sat outside of a metal house, looking out at a nearly barren field. This child was born and named Alan Spacer, but the boy knew it would never be his real name.

The boy had dark hair that fell just above his violet eyes, and his skin was shockingly pale for someone who lived above the canyon in which Tarak's only city rested. The planet was harsh, and resources were hard to come by. This severely lowered the population of the male planet.

"I don't understand. What caused this quirk of fate, that I am reincarnated into a child created artificially? That I find myself on a barren planet, the few resources of which go towards a war with women? Somehow... I feel like C.C. is laughing at me somewhere."

Tarak, the male planet, and Mejerre, the female planet. The two were in a war that the men would have no chance of winning. While Tarak was barren in all but metals, Mejerre was a lush paradise. the women had perfected technology that men had barely dreamed of, their weapons were sleeker, less bulky and clumsy.

And yet they continued to fight. Couldn't they just come up with a solution through non-violent means?

... Of course not. The leaders of tarak saw fit to instill a fear of anything with a vagina into the common man. Honestly? Half of the average men of Tarak would wet themselves if a woman were to appear.

It was pathetic, and he wanted off of this rock. Sadly, the only way he saw to leave would be...

"Alright." He muttered. "I'll join the military, and perhaps find a planet with some semblance of sanity..."

He sighed. This was going to suck.

* * *

A dark screen came to life, trumpets blared, and the symbol of Tarak appeared.

_"Women are monsters!" A grotesque beast screeched, claws slashing at the screen as a man screamd in agony. "And men were once their playthings!" Caricatures of more of the horrible monsters appeared, tormenting men in any way they could think of. "They ate our forefather's innards, sucking them dry of all life!"_

_**DESTRUCTION.**_

_Men ran away from the vicious, reptilian looking beasts. One man's heart was pulled from his chest. "Over the centuries, they have plundered our cities!"_

**OPRESSION!**

_"They have cruelly opressed our people with forced labor! And now, that unspeakable horror is about to befall our empire once more."_

* * *

Lelouch tried to ignore the sheer stupidity of the propaganda video he was forced to sit and watch. Really, he tried. But his distaste showed on his face. Many of the other men had similar looks, though for entirely different reasons.

The other men, decked out in the same military uniform as him, were sneering in distaste at the idea of women. Lelouch was sneering at the idiocy of the other men who believed the video.

He noticed, however, two who did not wear the common expression. One, a blue eyed blond with a military cap perched atop his head, seemed utterly bored, even going so far as to yawn. Lelouch smirked a little.

The other had dark hair, green eyes, and a skin tone a few shades darker than the blond. He didn't seem bored, so much as it was that he was lost in his own thoughts. Lelouch figured this man was a very curious person, probably trying to figure out life's little mysteries one at a time.

Soon enough, the video ended, the Prime Minister had a speech, and then he launched the Ikazuchi two hours early. And then the partying began. Lelouch found himself a small, secluded space, and settled in. A few conversations caught his ear, most notably one about Duello McFile, the long haired man, turning in his assignment request form blank, Bart Garsus attempting to peddle his father's food pills, and another about him.

He arched a brow as his name turned up, listening in closely. After all, it wasn't every day one found out what their peers thought of them whilst they weren't around.

"Hey, you guys know that Lelouch Lamperouge guy? I hear his name used to be Alan Spacer, but he went and got it changed after some family fallout." One said.

Another responded "Yeah, I heard 'bout that. Also hear the guy is a bit queer. Doesn't seem to have any interest in romance, even turned down a few real nice prospects."

Lelouch frowned. It was so strange, hear being "Queer" was almost the exact opposite of what "Queer" eventually came to mean in his time. Though, he supposed it could actual be that they were merely using it in it's original meaning, that being strange, as opposed to the slang term for homosexual.

He tuned back in to the conversation as they mentioned one of his more recent exploits, this time they were within earshot of Duello and Bart, who were each doing their own thing.

"Man, that's nothin' compared to what I heard he did. They said back in the academy, the guy interrogated one'a the instructors, and found out all kinds of illegal stuff he was doing. Didn't even rough the guy up, either, just talked it out of him. He even got some special medal or something for it." The two from before gaped at him, having been unaware of the entire ordeal.

That reminded Lelouch of when he actually realized he still possesed Geass, and not only that, but it had remained in it's mastered state. Sigil in both eyes, and complete control over it's activation. It was also the first time he used it on someone important enough to spread rumors, it seemed.

"Maybe he seduced him?" A bald man offered. That got a few laughs from the surrounding men.

Lelouch twitched, his finger itching toward the only weapon on his person. That being the decorative, yet still functional, dagger strapped to the chest of every man here. He wasn't Luciano, but there was no way he could miss the bastard at this range...

His thoughts of murder were interupted by the prime minister, who appeared to tell them about the Vanguards they had been trained to pilot. Lelouch would never admit it, but he was a bit excited to pilot one. It felt like piloting a knightmare all over again, except this time he had been formally trained rather than merely piecing it together via experimentation with his mother's Ganymede.

At the same time, he felt they looked utterly ridiculous. His feelings on this matter grew stronger as the platform with the demonstrational Vanguards was shown. And then he felt confusion as a Third Class citizen with purple hair, tanned skin, and a bandanna was seen hanging off one of the mechs. "What the hell?" He muttered.

The Prime Minister threw a fit. "GET THAT BOY!" He yelled, as several guards rushed in.

Lelouch watched in a mix of amusement and exasperation as the boy proceeded to kick the crap out of two guards, leap onto the head of another, latch onto the statue of Gran Pa, and then kick another guard in the face. All of this while being jeered at by the men in the room.

One, however, set the volatile boy off. "WHO THE HELL CALLED ME SHORTY!" He roared, leaping off the statue. And landing right infront of Bart, who was, infact, the one who called him short. And then the boy was tackled, held down, and knocked out by no less than three guards.

"..." Lelouch said nothing, but palmed his face.

* * *

Hibiki Tokai was not having a good day. First, he had suckered himself into stealing a marked Vanguard from the Ikazuchi.

Then he had gotten into the ship, and nearly set off an alarm because one of his tactics didn't work. This was followed by being tossed around as the ship started up two hours before it was supposed to, thus stranding him on it until he could retrieve the Vanguard to escape.

He had found the Vanguard, only for the room he was in to shift, revealing him to an entire room of trained soldiers. Guards rushed in, the partygoing soldiers threw jeers out at him, he kicked the asses of the guards... and then some dick had called him short. Bastard.

And now he was sitting in a cell, filled with luggage and other such things. "Just great, I almost pulled it off..." He moped.

"Pulled what off, boy?" A voice called from a cell across from his, the figure held within was hiding in the shadows. The voice seemed strange to Hibiki, for some reason.

He replied, nonetheless. "Heh. I got suckered into stealing a Vanguard to show to the third class citizens who worked in the factory making them. I actually had it, but then the room rose and the guards saw me." His head drooped as he said the last part.

The figure giggled. Hibiki blinked. Giggled? What kind of man giggled? He ignored it. "So... what're you in here for?"

He could vaguely see a shrug, as the person replied. "Oh, I was just minding my business, in the middle of a raid on some materials my captain wanted to plunder from the men. Turns out, it was a decoy and they had elite soldiers guarding it. So we were pulling out and then, boom, my dread shuts off after some flash of blue. They brought me here, said something about an extremely persuasive soldier who would interrogate me." The figure leaned out into the light, revealing it as a woman. "come to think of it, they probably brought my dread along since all of their best were supposed to be on this ship. That probably includes engineers..."

Hibiki freaked. "Holy shit! A woman? Ahhh! Don't eat my intestines!" He fainted.

The woman blinked. "I prefer pizza."

* * *

The Prime Minister himself had pulled Lelouch aside as they dragged Hibiki away, and said he had a special assignment for him. "You see, my boy, this ship is meant to house the best and the brightest. The soldiers on this ship are meant to grow into legends on Tarak, they will inspire hope to our people and fear in our enemies. That is why the ship holds so many who do not, and will not, pilot Vanguards. This ship is meant to become an icon of power."

Lelouch nodded. "I understand, Prime Minister, but what has this got to do with me, specifically?"

The man laughed, his peculiar moustache rising and falling as he did so, before replying. "Several of the men on this ship have special talents which have been highlighted at some point during their career. These men will be molded to nurture these talents. You are one of them, and I wonder if you realize which talent it is that we see in you?"

Lelouch replied monotonously. "The incident during which I made an instructor confess to his illegal dealings, yes? You wish for me to become an interrogation specialist?"

"Indeed, my boy! Your intelect leaves me impressed. Yes, you see, we have recently aquired an interesting captive." It was here his voice turned grave. "No doubt, you assume I speak of the Third Class citizen who snuck onboard, yes?" He waited for Lelouch to nod, but settled for his raised brow, instead. "It is not he who I speak of, however should the other captive be too much you may instead figure out what the boy's intentions were, and how he breached our security. No, our most important captive is..." He paused, for dramatic effect. "A woman." And he dropped the bomb there.

Lelouch blinked. "Very well, I will find out all I can from the captive." A woman? Interesting indeed. He was rather eager, actually. He had gone eighteen long years on a planet of only men, this added to his memories of his previous life had left Lelouch longing to see a female.

The Prime Minister looked suprised, having expected Lelouch to freak out. And then he laughed. "Very well, I'll leave you to it lad!" And then he walked off, leaving Lelouch at the entrance to the brig.

"I had wondered why he was leading me here." Lelouch muttered, walking into the empty hall. He was greeted by a robot.

"Interrogator has arrived. Please proceed." The egg shaped robot intoned.

"Interrogator, hm? How fun, the only other company is out cold. Poor boy couldn't handle the sight of a beautiful woman." A disturbingly familiar voice called, her voice filled with arrogance.

Lelouch's eyes widened, and he walked infront of the cell the voice came from. What he saw made his eyes go wide, features a mask of disbelief.

The woman in the cell gasped, her own features showing shock. "Lelouch?" She asked, hoping beyond hope that it was him.

"C.C... it seems fate has brought us together, again." Lelouch could almost cry. He had lived on a barren rock for the past eighteen years of his life, surrounded by nothing but men and ridiculous propaganda. And now he saw her, one of the most important people of his old life, and a beautiful woman at that.

C.C., much to his suprise, did cry. "It's really you." She couldn't believe it. The mental link formed when he had been given his Geass had broken the day he died.

"C.C... you're crying." And the suprises kept coming. He couldn't recall seeing her cry before.

"You always did manage to bring out the worst part of me, Lelouch." She jeered.

"And it was a skill I took great pride in, Witch." It felt so good to call her that, he realized. He didn't know how much he missed her.

"Enough banter... how are you alive?" C.C. asked.

He shrugged. "I've no idea. Rather than the World of C, I was met with a flash of blue. When I awoke, I seemed to have lived five years as a boy named Alan Spacer."

The green haired woman narrowed her eyes, wiping the few remaining tears away. "Interesting. A flash of blue light seemed to hit my Dread just before it shut down, which is how I was captured. Perhaps the two are connected?"

"Perhaps." Lelouch answered, before stopping cold as he heard a groan behind him.

"Uhhg. Man, that was a horrible dream..." Hibiki muttered, before realizing where he was. "Oh hell, it wasn't a dream... Who the hell're you?" He finally noticed Lelouch.

Lelouch blinked. "The poor shmuck who got suckered into interrogating her?" He offered with a shrug and a nod at C.C. "And who, pray tell, are you?" He asked.

Hibiki decided to get snarky. "I'm the poor shmuck who got suckered into swiping a Vanguard."

Lelouch palmed his face. "Of course." And then the ship rocked violently, sending Lelouch to the ground, and the robot into Hibiki's cell bars, which promptly fried it into a stupor. "This was not planned." Lelouch grunted.

"Oh, right, did I mention the fact that the pirates were probably coming to free me?" C.C. smiled at Lelouch's annoyed look.

"No, you left that out, Witch."

**"ALL PERSONELL TO THEIR BATTLE**** STATIONS, WE ARE UNDER ATTACK!"**

"Say, Lelouch? Want to escape with me? I'm sure Magno will take you in if we tell her you saved me." She looked over to Hibiki, who looked absolutely shocked. "The offer can extend to you too, if you like."

Hibiki shook his head quickly, standing. The small robot had fallen into his cell, and he quickly pulled some wires from his bag, attaching them to the bot, then the wall panel. Within seconds, he had shorted out the cell. "Woman or not, I appreciate the offer, but Hibiki Tokai is gonna make his way back to Tarak with a Vanguard!" That said, he ran off.

C.C. snickered. "Good luck. Now, what's your answer Lelouch?" She looked at him.

He raised an eyebrow. "Isn't it obvious? Spend the rest of my life on a planet populated solely by men, or try my luck on a ship manned entirely by females?" He quickly pressed a button, deactivating the bars. Lelouch grinned, a glint in his eye telling C.C. that he was planning something. "Once things go south for the men, the minister will order the new section of the Ikazuchi be seperated from the old... which is where we are. This is also where all of the crew quarters and the Vanguards are."

"So?" C.C. asked, stretching. He noticed for the first time that she was dressed in an outfit nearly identical to the one he met her in. He stored it away for later.

"So we make our way to the changing rooms so I can put something other than this ridiculous uniform on." He smirked. "I don't suppose that the pirates have sewing machines and materials?"

C.C. giggled. "Only you..." She shook her head, and made her way over to him.

And then he suprised her, by wrappping his arms around her and locking his lips to hers. She leaned into the kiss after a moment, making sure to enjoy it. Lelouch pulled away with a grin. "You have no idea how much I needed that, C.C."

"Can't say I do. After all, while you've spent the last eighteen years sterile, I've been on either a planet full of women, or on a ship crewed entirely by beautiful women. I've had a wonderful time." She grinned cheekily at him.

"Witch." He muttered, rolling his eyes. Why was he not suprised? He supposed living as long as she had, you were more open to trying new things just to keep from being bored.

They quickly made their way through the Ikazuchi, avoiding the various men running about. They made it to Lelouch's quarters just as the intercom blared "INTRUDERS INSIDE THE SHIP!" Lelouch quickly slipped in the room, C.C. right behind him.

The teen walked over to a large duffel bag, and smiled. "And here are what few casual clothes I posess. Being one of the First Class citizens had it's perks, I suppose. Most Tarak men only have two sets of identical clothing."

C.C. shrugged. "Mejerre is different. Almost every woman has far more clothing than they need." She grinned. "Especially considering just how little some of them actually wear. Why, I can't wait until you meet Jura and Barnette..."

"Right." Lelouch muttered, throwing the bag over his back. "We can't just sit here. I'd actually like to get to one of the vanguards. For old times sake, you know?"

"Glad to see I'm not the only one who saw the resemblence to Knightmares." She replied.

"Yes, despite looking as dorky as they do. Perhaps, since the women are raiding the ship, I can be made out as useful by teaching them how to pilot the vanguards? Despite their foolish exterior, they are a very versatile machine. If these cadets were properly armed and had some experience, this entire battle may not have been so easy for the women." He was certain the men were being wiped out easily. None of them had any experience in a real fight, and C.C. had made out these pirates as sounding quite competent.

The two managed to reach the Paeksis chamber just as Hibiki finally found his way there, the group meeting on a walkway by accident.

"Eh? You guys? What're you doin' here?" Hibiki asked, carrying the egg shaped robot under one arm.

"We're heading towards the Vanguards. Is that not where you intended to go?" Lelouch asked.

"Eh? AW HELL! I went the wrong way?" He yelled.

Lelouch's snarky remark was cut off by an explosion, as a large blue spacecraft burst into the room. An explosion later, and we find Lelouch fallen ontop of C.C., while a person in a strange, obviously customized, space-suit was lying atop a downed Hibiki.

Afforementioned boy opened his eyes, only to see something dangling infront of his face. "Eh? Whas' this?" He squeezed the offending object, feeling that it was squishy. He squeezed again, face scrunched up in confusion, before he heard a moan. He looked up, and saw a stereotypical-alien type face. "AHHH!" He yelled, kicking the person off of him. "IT'S A MONSTER!" He yelled, scrambling away.

The "Monster" yelled "Wait!", and oddly enough, he did. The woman pulled off the spacesuit she wore, revealing bright red hair and blue eyes. "Wow! A real, live, alien!" She began making odd gestures, a look of utmost concentration upon her face.

"... A-alien?" Hibiki questioned with a dead-pan look, before copying the hand gestures to humor her.

And then she clasped her hands together, she got all starry eyed, and she said "I made first contact!"

This was the image C.C. and Lelouch found themselves looking at as the righted themselves. "... Well. She's enthusiastic." Lelouch said.

C.C. nodded. "That would be Dita. She is the biggest alien fan I've ever met. Ever. Aliens are to her what pizza is to me."

Lelouch nodded, wide eyed. "That is a bit shocking to hear. Are you finally admitting you have a pizza addiction?"

"Nope." C.C. answered promptly.

They looked up to see Hibiki running away, and Dita not even noticing them as she ran after him. "... She's a rookie, isn't she?"

"Yep." C.C. replied immediately.

* * *

A man flinched as a shot was fired into the wall not a foot from his head. He raised his hands with a grimace.

Around them, several women sat, stood, or lay down. A young girl wearing a mix between a french maid outfit and a nurse outfit was wrapping the wounds of a green haired woman wearing what looked like a purple swimsuit.

Men were filed out quickly, being lead to escape pods. One man, however, looked over to see the injured woman in the swimsuit outfit as she complained about the young girl being too rough. He soon split from the other men, remaining unseen until the noise of him opening a locker drew the attention of a woman with a laser rifle.

"Hey, you, get back in line and into an escape pod!" She yelled, brandishing the gun threateningly.

Duello, as the man was revealed to be, calmly replied. "There'll be time for that later..." Pulling on a white and purple coat.

"HEY! You better cooperate with us or I'll shoot!" The blonde with the gun shouted.

Duello smirked. "Don't worry, I'm not a threat to you..." He looked over his shoulder, grinning. "I happen to be a doctor."

The women all looked between one another, and Barnette looked noticeably nervous.

* * *

"Minister, surely there may be a diplomatic way to solve this?" A man asked, frantic.

The bald prime minister looked on at the display screen. "Is the Muramasa ready yet?"

Men scrambled to aim the biggest torpedo the men had at their disposal.

* * *

"Eh! They have a missile aimed at us!" Ezra exclaimed, suprised.

The message was relayed to Magno, the captain of the ship. The elderly woman frowned. "While losing the ship will be a major blow... LET'S GET OUT OF HERE!"

That said, the ship moved to extract the crew.

* * *

"Roger that, we will exit once we've found Dita and C.C." A blue haired woman sighed, as she spoke into her communicator. She wore a full body jumpsuit in black and white.

A blonde looked down from the catwalk they stood upon, to see an odd sight. A boy with purple hair and an orange jacket was running from... Dita.

"Dita!" Meia, the bluenette exclaimed.

The blonde sighed, exasperated. "Oh look, Meia. She's chasing a man."

"Right. I'll retreive her, you find C.C." Meai ordered.

Jura nodded, looking over the railing again. Meai gave her a look. "What? It worked finding Dit-Ah ha! see, I found her! And she has a man with her too."

Meia did indeed see. "Fine, go get her! I'll get Dita!"

* * *

Meia tackled Dita to the ground, and scolded her for seperating from the team. "What were you thinking!" She yelled.

"Sorry Meia..." The rookie muttered, sheepish and apologetic.

* * *

"C.C.! We need to get out while the getting's good, they have a missile locked on us!" Jura shouted as she ran up to the greenete and the man.

"Alright, but I'm bringing this with me." C.C. smiled coyly, wrapping an arm around Lelouch's shoulder. "After all, he is the one who saved me from that cell in the first place."

Jura gaped at the scene, as the male stood impassively. She pulled herself together at the last minute, however. "Fine, fine, the captain will figure out what to do with you, come on!" She yelled, hurrying back to her dread. Meia and Dita were already there, as was Hibiki. The women hopped into their respective Dreads, expecting C.C. to join one of them. However, she instead hopped into the vanguard Lelouch had grabbed, while Hibiki and his robotic companion got into the marked vanguard.

Lelouch started up his vanguard, C.C. seated in his lap. "Just like old times, hm?" She asked.

The man smiled, despite the situation. "Indeed."

And then the world went... blue?

* * *

Hibiki, Dita, Jura, Meia, C.C., and Lelouch all fell downwards through a giant blue void.

And then everything went dark for them all.

* * *

Yep. Code Geass/Vandread, I have too much spare time and an overactive imagination. Quick note, this'll be a harem fic. Why? Because why NOT? :D


	2. This is the Proof of My Existance

I don't own code geass or vandread.

AN: To answer some of my reviewers,

ralf07: Other CG characters will show up, I already have plans for like five of them. Only two of the five are female, so lesee if anyone wants to tr and guess them?

Lelouch: Yes, Lelouch's harem will have one or more women from Vandread, I'm actually not bringing all that many CG girls back.

Reishin Amara: You'll see, I like what I did, myself, dunno how you'll feel about it. :3

Kamen Rider Omni: Yes, they are in the same timeline. C.C. has actually lived through all the colonization stuff, which will play a part later on.

Also, I may or may not lose steam on this at any given time, in which case I'll probably either:

Update Lelouch of the Digidestined

Rewrite my Naruto story, with a different title because the one I have annoys me to type

Rewrite the ficlet idea from Kyugan, you may or may not know the one.

So yeah, I've actually got options. I think this may work better than working on one story,since if I did that I'd burn myself out easier, y'know?

... Also, this is a long ass chapter. How the hell did that happen?

* * *

A dark haired boy ran through a dark field, full of bodies. Corpses. He ran, continuing long after he felt he could run no longer. "Just a bit further, a little more, I need to make it!" He encouraged himself, sprinting with all his might.

He kept running when he saw the shadowy image of his target. "A little more... a little more!" He yelled, avoiding hands which reached up from the lifeless bodies, ducking under branches that appeared before him from trees that were not there moments before. Nothing could stop him, he had almost reached her...

Crystaline spikes shot out from the ground, forcing the boy back. Suddenly, he was running again. This time, running away. A ball of light appeared behind him, expanding quickly. He ran as fast as he could, but was engulfed by the light.

* * *

Four women were strewn about a large room, covered entirely in a crystal substance. The first to regain their senses was Meia, who called out her comrade's names. "Jura?" She asked, looking towards the blonde nearby.

"I'm... fine..." Jura answered, groggy. She shook the cobwebs from her head.

"Dita?" Meia asked, a bit more frantic than before, recalling just what situation the redhead had been in before the explosion. Namely, stuck near a volatile energy source.

"Hiiiii! I'm over heeere." The response came from behind her, and Meia turned to see a disoriented Dita lying on the ground. "First something went BEEEEEEP, and then it went BOOOOOW, and then... I dunno what happened." She sighed, dreamily. "Alien power is amazing..."

Meia stood, shakily, looking around the room. "C.C.?" She called, getting a groan as her response. The green haired woman rolled onto her side to look at Meia.

"Nice rescue. Was getting blown up part of the plan?" She asked, before lying her head down. "Major headache..." She muttered, covering her head with her hands.

* * *

In the bridge of the women's ship, an elderly woman with a hood that gave a cat ear appearance sat, contemplating. A screen popped up, revealing a muscular green haired woman. "Gasgogne? Do you think you can detach us?"

The muscular woman sighed. "I can't do it with the lasers." Several of the crew were in the background firing afforementioned lasers at the crystals. "And if we don't act fast, this whole place will be consumed."

Another screen appeared, this time with a tan skinned, silver haired woman being the first to speak. "Captain, the corrosion is spreading throughout the entire ship at a rapid pace."

And a third screen came into view, this time a bespactacled brunette in an orange jumpsuit spoke. "The engine is dead too, so we can't move."

The old woman "Hmmm"'d, before making her decision. "We'll need to remove it at the source, eh? B.C., Parfait, come with me. I'm going up." The tan woman and the engineer nodded.

* * *

Meia, Dita, Jura and C.C. stood by the doorway that Magno stepped out of. "Captain, I'm sorry you had to come all this way..." Meia appologized.

C.C. gave a lazy wave.

"It's not a problem, I wanted to see this myself. And I'm glad to see C.C. here is alright, the explosion left me wondering whether or not the mission was a success..." Magno looked over to her left, spotting Hibiki.

Meia answered her unasked question. "This is the man Dita was chasing."

"Huh. Been a while since I've seen a man." Magno leaned down a bit, for closer inspection. "Were their faces always this funny looking?"

C.C. spoke up. "Not all of them, Hibiki here is just a special case." She smirked as people looked her way. "What? The boy got shoved into the cell across from mine, why wouldn't I take the chance to mess with him? He fainted when I leaned into the light, up till then he thought I was male."

Jura snickered. "It's good to have you back, you know that?"

"Of course, aren't I just wonderful?" C.C. replied.

* * *

He next knew himself in a gray expanse, shadowy figures floating around him. Slowly, they took on form.

A mechanical voice spoke first. "What are you?" It questioned.

"I am Lelouch." He answered calmly, a bit confused.

C.C.'s doppelganger spoke next. "Lelouch? The term for this organic being, or personal name?"

Another, this time Rolo, spoke. "Why are you here?"

The mechanical voice clarified. "Are your objectives instinctual, or preconceived?"

Lelouch frowned, unsure of his answer. "I was sick of Tarak. I did not belong, and so I left."

The machine spoke. "Answer is incomprehensible."

C.C.'s voice asked "What exactly is a "Lelouch"?"

"I don't understand..." Lelouch answered, unsure.

"I mean..." Rolo began, only for a new voice to finish.

"Why do you exist?" This voice was almost painful to hear. A doppelganger of Nunnally, wheelchair and all, finished Rolo's query.

Lelouch gulped, his brow sweating. The voices continued. "What is the proof that you are..."

"Who you are?"

"Who you are?"

"Who you are?"

Lelouch snapped. "My proof is that I am as I am! I am Lelouch, and that is all the proof that I need!" He shouted.

"That answer is primal. Three dimensional..." The machine spoke, and the world seemed to fall apart.

"Wait!" Lelouch yelled. "I WILL HAVE ANSWERS!"

* * *

Two men awoke at the same time, both of them rising from their slumped positions quickly. One of them, a purple haired boy, bashed his head upon the bottom of what seemed to be a bed. The other, hair black as raven feathers, gasped audibly as he awoke, looking around in a stupor.

Hibiki spoke first, noticing the bars. "Aw hell, back behind bars? Damn it..."

Lelouch grunted. And then another voice spoke up. "So you're awake."

Hibiki gasped, looking around until he spotted another person. This person had hair similar to Lelouch, but longer, and with his right eye covered by his bangs. His skin tone more closely matched Hibiki than Lelouch, however, and he wore a medical coat. "Who's there?" The volatile youth questioned.

"My name is Duello McFile. Do you have a name aswell, Mr. Third Class Citizen?" The man, Duello, asked in an impassive tone of voice.

Hibiki growled, before shouting "Don't make fun of me! My name is Hibiki Tokai, and I am NOT just some third class citizen!"

Lelouch sighed. "Please be quieter. My head hurts." He asked quietly.

Duello nodded. "And you are Lelouch Lamperouge, correct? I noticed you listening in on those men during the party, mind if I ask how much of it was just rumor?" He spoke quietly, much to Lelouch's pleasure.

"My name was Alan Spacer, father didn't approve of my choices and disowned me. I changed my name, joined the military, and eventually made it here. The other rumors you may have heard are true, and no I did not seduce him." Lelouch said in one breath, before stopping to catch his breath.

Duello seemed satisfied for now. "And Hibiki Tokai, was it? You were the one who caused the commotion at the ceremony. How did you manage to get in the ship, anyway?" He actually seemed genuinely impressed that the boy had busted in. Hell, Lelouch was too.

The Ikazuchi was the pride of Tarak (Doubtless, the Minister was going to use it's destruction at his hands as a way to martyr it and himself.), and so for a boy of Hibiki's stature, not a short joke, to break in, it was thought to be impossible.

"Hmm. There sure are alot of questions today." He grunted. "Anyway-" He wascut off by a robotic muttering of "Pyoro." "What?" He asked.

Suddenly, the egg shaped robot floated upwards, arms and legs popping out of it. It stood on it's feet, looking at Hibiki. A pair of wide eyes stared at him from the screen that made up the little robot's face. "Where am I?" It looked around. "Who am I?"

Hibiki grunted. "You changed a bit, haven't you?"

The robot looked confused. "Huh?"

* * *

Within the hall where there had been an all male party only hours before, there was now nothing but a single, crystalized statue. A part of the crystal chipped off, revealing a small doorway. Out from this doorway crawled a blond in a Tarak military uniform.

"What the? This is weird, what's up with these crystals?" He muttered to himself, a bit scared. What? He was all alone in a creepy, echoing room full of crystalized stuff. His thoughts were cut off as a piece of the ceiling nearly crushed him. Only his quick reflexes saved him as he dodged backwards, landing in a heap. "What the hell! This is ridiculous, what is going on here?" He turned, still looking over his shoulder, before crawling a couple feet away. He stopped when he felt a presence in front of him. He looked up, and his eyes went wide and fearful.

A blue haired woman in a skintight jumpsuit was standing before him, her pelvis less than a foot away from where his head had been. Had been, because he freaked out and jumped back. Now he lie on his back, facing the intimidating woman with the glowing laser ring pointed right at him.

Right, he had to say something impressive, maybe buy some time. "E-Eh... hi there?" He offered.

Bart was not good at "Impressive".

Meia, however, was very good at "Intimidating".

* * *

"Pyo..." The eyes of the robot flickered in static, before settling back down. "Pyoro."

Hibiki glowered at the robot. "What? You want me to fix you or something?" He asked.

The robot, Pyoro, did not take kindly to that. In a fashion similar to Hibiki's earlier outburst, the small thing shouted "Don't make fun of me! I'M NOT BROKEN!"

"Well then what the hell do you want!" Hibiki shouted, before footsteps drew his attention. He looked up, and jumped back at what he saw. "Gah! Women! What do you want with us, why are we here?"

Before the men stood Buzam, or B.C., along with two others. One of them had short green hair and dull brown eyes, and the other had long dark brown hair in a single braid that was pulled over her left shoulder. The second one was the tallest of the three, and seemed to have her eyes closed. No, wait, she was just squinting.

The men didn't see the two other women nearby, one with orange hair in an odd style, and the other with a darker shade of green.

Buzam spoke, a wry grin on her lips. "Now, now, calm down. This is probably the safest place for you right now."

"Yeah right!" Hibiki replied, sarcastically. "You say that, but you probably wanna eat our intestines or something!"

"Eat... your intestines?" B.C. asked, seemingly thrown for a loop. The two behind her couldn't hold their tough-girl facade, and cracked up laughing.

"He-he actually believes it!" One of the giggled, the other nodded in agreement.

"Most Tarak men do. It is, after all, one of the most often heard "facts" about women." The way Lelouch said "facts", coupled with his rolling eyes, led them to believe he didn't believe it.

"Right, anyway." B.C. interjected. "Before we have dinner, I'd like to ask you something. Come with us."

And now they were walking down a hallway, only Buzam and the two guards leading them.

Much to Lelouch's amusement, Hibiki was staring at the rear end of the greenete infront of him. "What do they even have in there?" He muttered to himself, the women either not noticing or not caring. He reached his cuffed hands forward, and poked the butt of the girl infront of him.

She stopped, eyes wide and cheeks red, before turning with angry tears in her eyes. "PERVERT!" She yelled, slapping Hibiki across the face.

"Ow!" He muttered. While the slap had hurt, and would be leaving a mark, he had taken harder hits on an almost daily basis back on Tarak.

People liked to pick on the short guy, even this far into the future.

Lelouch attempted to cover up his snorts of laughter, and Duello even allowed a few chuckles.

As they entered a room, and were seated on a couch, Hibiki asked. "What'd she hit me for, anyway?" He didn't get in. On Tarak people got poked in the ass all the time. And he didn't mean that as an innuendo. "Seriously, it's not like I went and kicked her." Now if he had done that, he could see her being pissed.

The afforementioned girl stood behind the couch on which they were seated, an angry pout on her face, while her friend was torn between amusement and exasperation.

"A gentlemen should not be rude to a lady!" Pyoro scolded Hibiki, much to the boy's suprise.

"The hell does that even mean!" He growled.

Lelouch frowned aswell. Why would a robot presumably made on Tarak say such a thing? Duello's thoughts were along the same line.

And then the door opened, revealing Meia and... Bart? Yes, Bart. B.C. asked "What's up? Found another one?"

Meia nodded crisply. "Yes. He was trying to hide on the platform."

Bart nervously waved at the others. "Ehh... hello, comrades. Glad to see you here." He really was. There was no way he could survive being the only man aboard.

"My goodness. I heard you had rounded up some prisoners, but they're just kids." Magno said as she entered, cane in hand.

Pyoro hopped over to her. "Heeeey, hey! Interrogation time, I'll tell you everything!" It was clear who's side he was on.

Lelouch snickered at the irony there. Just a few hours ago, he had been the interrogator. This caught the attention of the women, but he shrugged. "I find the robot funny."

"Oh my, a Navi robot, how nostalgic! And this one seems to be in working order." Magno patted the little bot on it's top.

Duello spoke, a bit annoyed at not knowing what was going on. "I'm not following this..."

"Yeah, isn't this a mens ship?" Hibiki asked.

Lelouch frowned a bit. "They've got a point. Why do you seem so familiar with a robot from a Tarak military ship, if I may?"

"Yes, it was a military ship, but before that it was used for colonization." Magno replied.

Hibiki gasped, turning his attention on her. Duello's eyes got a bit wider, and his attention also fell fully onto Magno. Lelouch simply nodded, mind working quickly. "A colonization ship from where, if I may ask?"

Magno smirked. "Such a polite young man. It came from a planet called Earth."

Hibiki and Duello did not understand why this was such a big thing, while Bart simply did not care. However, Magno noticed Lelouch's eyes light up in recognition. 'I do so wonder where this boy learned of our ancestral home?'

"At any rate, this was long before your fathers were born, when your cowardly grandfathers split the ship in two and ran off into the night." She frowned.

"They renovated the old battle ship and added residential quarters." Pyoro added, helpfully.

"And now we end up back on this battle ship." Magno smirked. "This is our business you know, so we'll gladly keep the ship, but the problem is what to do with you guys."

"We should take care of them immediately. Things are unstable as is." Meia supplied.

Hibiki and Bart flinched at this, Hibiki because he was preparing to go down fighting, and Bart because, well, Meia WAS holding him at... laser ring... point. Duello and Lelouch remained calm, but both subtly tensed.

"Now, now, no need to be hasty." Magno donned a disturbing smile. "We should carefully consider just how we want to cook these fellas up." She licked her lips.

Hibiki went pale. 'I KNEW IT!' He thought to himself.

* * *

Elsewhere on the ship, in a beautiful forest-like area, were two women. One of them, the redheaded dread trainee, Dita, was leaning against the railing, looking out at the stars. The other, a brunette with squinted eyes, a yellow bow in her hair, and a motherly look about her, had a small spherical device, and was using it to check the stars for familiar constellations in order to figure out their location.

"None match... I just don't get it." Ezra, the brunnete, sighed.

"You don't get it? It's an amazing thing to come across an actual alien." Dita replied.

Ezra smiled. "Yes, I suppose it is amazing. All of us thought the Paksis was just an energy source, but it restored the whole ship."

"And made it like neeeew." Dita sighed, dreamily. "that means, if I could get abducted..."

Ezra sighed, removing the sphere from infront of her eye, looking downcast. "Oh well.." She whispered.

Dita looked over to her, before asking "What's the matter Ezra? Don't you feel well?"

The brunette replied wistfully. "I'm fine, Dita. I was just thinking about everyone..."

"Oh, I see. I think about them too. Everyone we had to leave behind at our base..." Dita answered.

"I'd really like to go back soon..." Ezra clearly had something on her mind.

"Hm? AH! Ezra, look! Over there!" Dita pointed off into space.

"Ah... what could it be?" The brunette wondered, only for Dita to suddenly get into her personal bubble.

The starry eyed girl yelled "Isn't it obvious? It's a UFO!"

* * *

Magno slowly placed a spoonfull of what appeared to be jello, not that anyone other than Lelouch would know that, into her mouth. Clearly, she was trying to intimidate them into thinking it was gelatinous blood or something of the sort. Crazy old bat was having too much fun. Speaking of too much fun, Pyoro now had demonic looking eyes on his monitor. Lelouch was half tempted to pull out the Geass, just for the freak out factor. Robots changing around their eyes? No big deal. A human suddenly sporting two glowing red bird sigils in his eyes, sigils which actually moved no less? Freaky as hell. Obviously, however, this was just a whim and he would not even consider it seriously.

Until he got the robot alone, of course.

"So." Magno cut off his devious plans. "The long haired one is a doctor, what of the others?"

Meia responded. "They are attackers. The two of them loaded up into enemy powered suits before the impact."

Hibiki looked ready to protest, but a dead-pan Bart elbowed him in the side. Lelouch just frowned.

Suddenly, a call came to B.C. "There is something aproaching."

"Is it male reinforcements?" The silver haired woman asked.

"No, actually-" Ezra was cut off as Dita yelled "THEY'RE UFOS!" into her comm. "Y-yes... UFOs."

And then the ship started rocking. They heard Dita over the comm. "The aliens are not friendly!"

"What's going on THIS time?" Hibiki muttered.

It was then that three very important events occurred.

First, Meia spoke. "The dreads are going out!" Before she took off.

Second, B.C. called Parfait, the lead engineer. "How is the engine? Can we move?" The answer was, regretfully, no.

"Sorry!" She said. "But the engine is completely out of our control, we can't do anything!"

And lastly, and arguably the most important even of all; Magno dropped the bowl holding her gelatine. "Aww... my afternoon snack." She muttered as the bowl broke.

* * *

Meia sped down the hall, calling Barnette. "Barnette, where are you?"

Barnette, with anime tears streaming down her cheeks, replied. "Paiway locked us into the shower and won't let us ouuuuut." In the background, Paiway was making funny faces at the women in the shower, while her frog puppet/purse did the same.

Meia didn't miss a beat, swapping channels mid-stride. "Miss Gasco, what about you?"

The muscular greenete frowned, shaking her head. "Dreads can't get out. There's nothing I can do, but I'll head on up. And for the last time, my name is GASCOGNE!" The background showed several women firing laser rings at crystal. Still.

The blue haired dread pilot frowned, this was going poorly. She swapped to the second to last channel on her list. "Jura, location?"

"On my way to the platform, Meia." Jura replied, dashing her way there.

One out of four. One left to go. Meia called the final channel. "C.C.? Please tell me the engineers were able to fix up your dread?"

A grinning yellow eyed woman was on the other side of the call. "They had no need to. It was fine, better than fine infact. I think you'll feel the same for your dreads. I'm launching now." She tucked a stray strand of green hair behind her ear, smirking. She then canceled the call.

* * *

"Just like old times." C.C. said, before launching. She was the first into the fray. Her dread had undergone serious changes. Rather than the relatively simple, yet elegant, dread it was before, it was now more complex.

A green only a few shades dark than her hair made up most of the vehicles color. It looked much like a common dread, only it was longer and the wings began much closer to the tip. The wings shot down the main body, steadily furthering themselves from the dread in a wide "\_/" shape, only for two slightly tilted lines at the end of each line to turn itself backwards in a small, upside down "v".

The two defining features of the dread were the glowing gold "feathers" inbetween the wings and the dread's body. They looked much like the Energy Wings developed by Cecile croomy many, many years before the time of this battle.

The second distinct feature would be the two metallic ribbon-like tails that fluttered behind the dread as it dashed about. While they seemed nothing more than decoration, they served another purpose.

Several of the UFOs found themselves being sliced apart as C.C.'s dread zipped by, others being pierced by energy feathers.

"The instruments are more reactive, handles better, and has superior firepower." She commented. She grinned "Time to try for a large scale attack."

That said, she pulled the dread directly upwards, spinning like a drill. While she did this, the energy feathers rained downward upon the enemies who had attempted to follow her ascent. They were demolished one by one, only to be replaced by more immediately after she finished her new trick.

"... Damn it." She muttered.

* * *

"What in the world?" Jura gasped, seeing her Dread in all of it's glory.

C.C. was right, they were better than fine. Each dread had gotten larger, for one.

Meia's dread now sported three fins, two stuck out of the top at an angle, and one along the bottom that was pointed slightly toward the tip of the dread. It retained it's previous white color, however, and was rather plain beyond the fins.

Jura's dread remained red, with green orbs seemingly indented into the sides. The wings of the dread now stuck out to it's front, giving the dread a "U" like shape. The wings also curved downward very slightly.

And lastly, Dita's dread was a mixture of dark blue and bright green. The main body was blue, and the laser cannons on the dread were now very large, a luminesent crystaline substance, shaped a bit like a pair of lances.

Meia entered her dread, and began going over the controls. "Controls seem mostly unchanged. All in all, they seem to have been improved."

Two screens appeared, one showing Jura, and the other Dita. Jura spoke. "I think I can fly it."

"I'm positive, they must have powered up! It's so exciting!" Dita exclaimed.

"Right. Just try not to do anything foolish." Meia really hoped Dita would listen to her THIS time.

... She didn't expect her to, though.

* * *

B.C. looked at a small computer screen, grimacing at all the voices simultaniously telling her something was wrong. Each of them had a different problem.

"B.C., go take command of the bridge." Magno ordered.

The woman nodded. "Yes, captain." She turned, and prepared to run off, only for a shot to rock the ship. She turned, hearing a shriek of pain.

One of the walls had fallen in, half way burrying the green haired guard. The brunette rushed over, franticly trying to help her friend.

"No, wait! Don't move her!" Duello shouted, eyes narrowing as the suprised guard had aimed her laser ring at him. "I'm no threat to you, I just want to see if I can help her. If we move her we could possibly kill her." He leapt over the couch, kneeling by the injured woman. "I'll need your help, alright?"

The brunette nodded. "Alright."

Bart watched this happen, and felt a plan forming. "Well. It seems we find ourselves in an unusual situation." He said, catching Magno's attention. "What I mean is, rather than working against one another, it would be best to pool our forces together. You see, while we are fewer than your crew, we each have our own particular skill set which could be useful. I, myself, happen to be a helmsmen." He smiled disarmingly, before walking over to Magno.

Pyoro found this hard to believe. "Warning, warning, this guy is trying to pull something!" The robot blaired, much to Bart's annoyance.

He actually did have the training to pilot a Tarak ship, but no one was going to let him near the helm any time soon. He figured now he had a chance to shine.

The old woman found the situation amusing. Leave it to the most cowardly of the group to put forth the path of least violence. "Now now, Pyoro, you hush. Let the man speak."

The blond coughed into his hand, glad things were going relatively well. "Seeing as Duello has taken it upon himself to help out, I propose the three of us remaining do the same. However, for us to do so, we would need a bit more freedom to move." He gestured to Lelouch and Hibiki's bound hands. He, however, remained uncuffed due to the amount of security in the room.

Bart was a suprisingly good negotiator. He had spent a lot of his life being taught to barter, and when he had something worth giving he could pull off quite a few deals. The key was to be certain you didn't ask too much, while also getting what you want, also to never offer something you don't have. At the moment, he wanted freedom for he and his associates, but asking for outright freedom on a ship where they had been taken prisoner, and by their planet's only enemy? It was stupid. And so he asked for just enough to get them where they needed to be, from there they would, hopefully, impress their captors, and bartering for more freedoms could begin. His seemingly humble request may, also, endear them slightly to their captors.

The only reason he couldn't move those damn pellets was because they were the same thing as the normal Tarak pellets, but with useless coloring and a higher price tag. Not everyone was a total imbecile, even on Tarak.

However, Bart was quite nervous, and it showed. From what little information he had, the success of this little deal could either save them or get them killed. He was sweating a bit, and his moments were a bit jerky. Not to mention he was over acting in an attempt to hide just how nervous he was.

Magno, being as old and wise as she was, saw right through the subtle manipulations of the conversation, and noticed the boy was quite nervous. The boy was good, but not that good. However, he had a point, and his proposal could go towards Magno's own purposes. If the men made themselves useful, she could induct them into the crew officially. This would be good for two reasons.

One, the men integrating into her crew would later serve as an example that men and women can live together in moderate peace.

Secondly? It would be funny as all hell to watch four men try to blend into a fully female crew, especially when no one but her knew of the actual history of men and women. Or so she thought.

She smiled. "Alright, boy. You got a deal. Lets get him to the bridge, B.C., you take the other two to the warehouse and get them into their vanguards."

"Roger." B.C. replied, gesturing for Lelouch and Hibiki to follow her, while Magno turned to lead Bart out.

At that time, Duello made a frustrated noise. "Get me to sick bay, I can't do anything here!" Before he carefully removed his patient from the rubble, lifted her gently, and took off with the other guard, who was leading him to the sick bay.

* * *

Bart looked out at the bridge with a dead-pan expression. "What the hell is that?" He asked.

Magno smirked. "The bridge has moved itself out there. None of us can get the thing started, why don't you try, mister helmsmen?"

Bart frowned. Everyone seemed to think he had been lying about that. He tried to cover up his confusion. "Erm, it's just, this is a sensitive piece of Tarak military equipment. Yeah, it's like a secret weapon. Only a man would know how to use it."

Magno raised a brow, before lightly poking him in the back with her cane."Well, go on then, show us women how it's done."

"R-right." Bart walked out to the glowing blue pool at the end of the extended walkway, looking down at the small garden/forest below. "This can't be safe... Maybe if..." He stuck his foot into the pool, slightly, and freaked out when the gelatinous mass within grabbed him, yanking him into the pool. He sank in and disappeared from the sight of the women on the bridge.

"... that's some secret weapon." Magno was shocked. What the heck had just happened? Even SHE knew that was not normal!

"... He has no idea what he's doing." Pyoro supplied, helpfully.

* * *

Bart was in a big blue sphere. And he was naked. He looked around himself, and saw... space? Yes, space. And aliens shooting. At him.

He freaked out, covering his face with his arms and leaning to the left. This moved the ship, slamming into several of the aliens and destroying them. "GET'EM AWAAAY!" He yelled, moving to run away. Imagine his suprise when he felt the ship move along.

A shot hit the ship, causing an explosion. Bart found out the second downside to this system; some of these attacks hurt HIM! "YEOW! MY ASS!" He yelled.

The people on the bridge had giant sweatdrops running down the back of their heads. Even Pyoro, despite lacking sweat glands in general.

* * *

While this went on, B.C. led Lelouch and a silent Hibiki towards the vanguard's location. Behind them was the orangette from before, the one who they had not been able to see until they were released from the cell.

"Looks like it'll be a while before this whole place stablizes, I'm afraid there won't be much hope for us if we can't gain control of the ship." She said, looking down a tunnel for a moment. She moved on after a second.

"H.. hey." Hibiki called, causing B.C. to stop the whole group.

"What is it?" She asked.

"I... I just wanted to tell you, I... I'm not really a vanguard pilot. I guess I just... wasn't able to tell you before." He replied.

B.C. raised a brow. "Then what were you doing on the Ikazuchi in the first place?"

He looked sheepish, shy. Completely unlike he had been. "I got suckered into a stupid dare, to steal a vanguard. And, well, heh heh. I just..." B.C. cut him off.

"Well. And here I thought men were a proud race, but who would have thought they were such pathetic beings." She had a mocking smile in place. Hibiki gasped. "No matter what the reason, are you not here because of your pride? Or perhaps the need to show proof of your existance?"

That last one hit Hibiki hard, and even Lelouch felt himself flinch. 'Seems I wasn't the only one who had a bad dream...' He deduced. 'I wonder, are the two related? Probably.'

B.C. continued. "Male or female, it doesn't matter now. What matters is that we are all human beings who breath the same oxygen. While there are people trying desperately to overcome this crisis, are you just going to curl up like some defenseless baby and wait for the final moments to come? What deficiancies are you trying to cover up? What do you think you could possibly hide right now? No matter how much of a loser you are, or how uncool you are, if you cower before every obstacle in your path nothing will ever change. And without change your race will shrivel up and die. Do you understand?"

"I... but... I don't know what I'm s'posed to do..." He fell to his knees, world thoroughly shaken.

B.C.'s sneer softened. "I guess I didn't need to say all of that." She looked towards the orange haired guard. "Take the dark haired one to the warehouse, I need to get back to the bridge."

The girl blinked. "Yes, but..." She glanced at the kneeling Hibiki.

"Don't worry. He's got nowhere to run... none of us do." And with that, she walked away.

Lelouch frowned. That woman certainly had a way with words, she completely messed up Hibiki's mind. Lelouch saw two possible outcomes; One, Hibiki remains in a comatose depression, or two; he finds the will to fight, and his resolve is stronger than ever. He figured B.C. realized this aswell.

"Please, be a dear and lead me to the vanguards. Otherwise I'll remain useless, and I don't enjoy that feeling." Lelouch couldn't help but smirk at the look he got for calling her "dear", the girl looked torn between confused and offended.

"R-right..." she nodded, before walking off. She clicked a button on a white remote, undoing the restraints on his hands.

Eventually they came upon a room, and she gestured within. "This is it. I need to get to the bridge." She frowned a bit. "Don't die, I guess." She made an attempt at being encouraging.

He rolled his eyes. "Who would miss me if I did?" He asked, knowing that only C.C. would care. But that in on itself was enough, he realized. "No, nevermind. I know who would care. I'll keep it in mind."

She looked confused again, and eventually just decided to leave the weird guy with the pretty eyes to his business. Wait. Pretty eyes? She realized, actually, that those purple eyes were rather nice to look at. The man actually looked pretty girly, come to think of it. She stopped right there, the train of thought just too odd for her. Her final thought on the matter was "How can a man look so damn pretty?"

Back with Lelouch, we find him staring with a devilish grin as he looked at what had once been a simple vanguard. "Well, well, well. Doesn't this look familiar?" He was now convinced that the blue flashes from his rebirth, the explosion, and C.C.'s dread incident were not only related, but caused by the same entity. And it must have been something with some form of sentience, because it seemed to make conscious decisions.

And what had brought on this little thought train? The fact that the vanguard before him had been changed drastically, and looked rather familiar to him. The humanoid body remained, though it was slimmer than before. Less bulky, despite being larger than the original. The vanguard was mainly black, though the shoulder ornaments, hands, feet, and two jackal ear-like crests were gold. The head was humanoid, with two long ears, and glowing red eyes.

The shoulders were to black teardrops, the point facing forward. Four red jewels were indented into the mech's shoulders in such a way that they would make an "X" should they be connected. From the side of the shoulders, reaching from the back to where the bulb began to thin into a point, were two golden pieces of cloth. The arms sprouted from the shoulders. They began as silver metal limbs, just thick enough to remain strong, before those connected to a joint shaped like a sphere cut in half, with the flat half facing away from the body.

Attached to the flat ends were the forearms, which were shaped somewhat like diamonds, but with a soft curve that led into a point. They were outlined in gold, and had one of the red jewels on either arm. At the end where the hands rested, there was no point. The hands, golden in color, had five clawed fingers that looked as though they had been cut into pieces and put back together, held by something within them.

The upper body had the common triangular shape, and that was where the cockpit was located. The chestpiece was black, with gold outlines. The upper body connected to the lower thanks to a cylindrical metal "spine". The lower body led into two legs. The legs started out looking rather normal, until about knee level. The knee down looked to be covered in a pair of boots, which resembled a pair of seated jackals. Three golden claws came from under the "Boots". Lastly, two soft curved triangles came from it's hips, facing backwards and going down at an angle. From the flat of the triangles, two cylinders stuck out.

All in all, it reminded him of some bizarre fusion of the Gawain, the Shinkiro, Anubis, the Egyptian god, and a Vanguard. He loved it.

"Well, I suppose I should join the fray..." He smiled. This would be such fun.

* * *

B.C. sat by Magno as they watched the battle proceed. Bart had found a way to raise the shields effectiveness a bit.

* * *

Inside the blue sphere from which the ship operated, Bart sat in a fetal position.

* * *

Suddenly, a screen showing Lelouch in the new vanguard's cockpit appeared. "Ah, it worked. Tell your pilots reinforcements are on their way, alright?"

B.C. smirked. "Already did. Hibiki is on his way too, he got over himself."

Lelouch smirked. "Just as you planned, hm? Anyway, I'm entering battle now."

Magno shook her head as the screen disappeared. "That boy is clever. He'll be amusing." She muttered. B.C., the only one who heard her, could only nod.

* * *

Lelouch flew out of the ship at high speed, swiftly slashing some of the numerous enemies with his mech's claws. They tore through like a hot knife through butter.

Suddenly, the dreads formed up on his position. "So, you're our reinforcements?" A screen appeared, showing Meia in her dread.

Lelouch nodded. "Yes. Soon Hibiki will arrive to further reinforce us. Until then we should cull the herd."

With that said, his machine held out it's arms and held it's legs together, so that it looked like a cross, before the shoulders split apart in an "X", opening up like a blossom. This showed four lines of golden indents in the inside of the shoulderpiece, from which a familiar ominous red and black glow emanated.

Lelouch decided to name the machine, for old times sake. "Allow me to show you the power of the Hadron Cannon... Anubis, firing!"

He had always fancied the Egyptian god's names, but never got a chance to name anything himself. Gawain, one of the Arthurian Knights of the Round, and Shinkiro, Japanese for Mirage, both were good names, but those machines had their time to shine. And shine they did, before they were snuffed out.

He could only hope the newly dubbed Anubis lasted longer.

The effect of the hadron cannon was rather appealing. In a flash of reddish black, dozens of the enemies were destroyed. The blossoms closed, and the fighting began anew. More replaced those Lelouch had demolished.

But it didn't deterr him. He kept on firing off small, spherical hadron blasts from the mouths of the jackal kneepieces, and the wrist of the Anubis. While these were not his only weapons, they were the ones he was most familiar with, and so he stuck with them.

The cockpit of the machine was actually alot like the Gawain, if it had only been built for one person. The controls, however, were not. His hands held onto two glowing purple spheres, which seemed to react to his thoughts rather than any actual form of buttons or switches.

One of the enemies got too close to Lelouch for his liking, and so he lashed out and kicked it. The three golden claws pierced through it, causing it to explode.

They had been at it for a few minutes, actually. Where the hell was Hibiki, anyway?

* * *

A purple haired lad ran through the barren halls of the ship frantically, searching for the room in which the vanguards rested.

No one had told him where it was, and he was all alone to find it!

* * *

Things began looking bad for the dread pilots and Lelouch, especially when a glowing yellow ball shot out from what seemed to be the main ship of the enemy.

The orb split into fourths, expanding to show a metallic body contained within, and holding the pieces together. The fronts of the bottom quarters bent upwards, while the backs bent down, until it looked like a pair of triangular feet.

The top two quarters split in half, unfolding into insect-like arms, tipped with wicked looking blades. This action revealed a triangular head.

The color scheme of this machine was two tone; the sphere and parts that came from it were a glowing yellow, and the inner parts were a sickly green.

And it was larger than the dreads, which were larger than the Anubis.

"I'll handle it." C.C. called out, dashing towards the thing, intent on ending it quickly.

However, it moved suprisingly fast, and dug it's blades into the sides of C.C.'s dread, holding it in place.

Four voices yelled her name, and Lelouch drew the second weapon of his new machine before dashing in. From the hip-holsters, he pulled out two rods with no defined guard. After they were fully removed, and within the hands of the machine, the portions outside of the hands lit up in a reddish black light.

The enemy removed it's blades from C.C.'s dread, luckily not damaging anything important, and blocked the blades of it's new foe. C.C. wasted no time in getting some distance, and Lelouch followed her lead after shooting off two point blank hadron spheres from his machine's knees.

"It's extremely fast, and we still need to handle the little ones. C.C. and I will deal with the orb, we'll leave the rest to you all." No one questioned Lelouch's plan, it seemed solid enough for the situation.

C.C. dashed her dread up to the yellow menace, before firing off some energy feathers and making a nose-dive below the thing, turning around once she was safely behind it. While the energy wings were blocked by it's blades, Lelouch had landed a solid strike to it's midsection with another salvo of hadron spheres.

After several explosive impacts, they figured they had killed the enemy. They were wrong. The blade suddenly extended, chopping off the left arm of the Anubis, while another stabbed C.C.s dread again, missing her cockpit by a bit, and yanked her towards it. It then moved in a way that would force Lelouch and C.C. to collide.

No one could possibly have warned it of the fatal mistake it had just made.

A flash of blue was witnessed by all on the field, including the recently arrived Hibiki.

The orb machine readied it's blades, prepared for anything. Anything except the new machine that stood before it.

The machine looked like a dark green humanoid bird. The front of the dread had become the torso of the new machine, the wings hanging down from the sides. The energy wings formed around the back of the machine and met one another, making a cloak of golden energy feathers. And rather than coming only from the bottom of the wings, three energy feathers made a collar of sorts for the cloak, coming instead from the top of the wings. A head had revealed itself, human looking, but covered by a metal hood that resembled a bird without the lower part of it's beak. Two long arms appeared, when held to it's sides the reached the machines knees. The arms were tipped with golden claws, and one energy feather was generated from every finger but the thumbs. It's legs were thin, and avian in appearance, ending in more of the golden claws. These, however, did not have the energy feathers.

The seemingly useless metalic ribbons had seemingly taken on a life of their own, tipped in three energy feathers each, forming a sort of leaflike shape, they made for dangerous weapons now.

Two eyes glared out from under the birdlike hood, the same glowing pink as the Geass crest in Lelouch's eyes. To finish the look, the avian hood had a single defining feature; the Geass sigil was etched where the forehead of the hood would be, had it been an actual bird.

Lelouch and C.C. found themselves in a wather compromising position. Much like the layout of the Gawain, there were two seats, one above the other. However, in this layout, the seats were closer to eachother's height, which put Lelouch's head directly between C.C. legs, with both of them facing forward. And, due to the size of the cockpit, Lelouch could barely move his head back without his head laying against C.C.'s pelvis. He learned this on accident, by the way.

And so a blushing Lelouch and an smirking C.C. began admiring the new machine in which they found themselves.

"I... I think we can just kill this thing now, right?" Lelouch said, attempting to draw attention away from the position they were in.

"Yes." C.C.'s tone had become malicious. "It nearly broke my toy. So now we break it."

Lelouch grinned. It seemed that C.C. had control of the projectile attacks, and the energy wings, while he had the main body controls.

Simply put? He moved and cut things, C.C. shot things and could move the wings.

The wings of the machine moved to meet infront of it, the energy feathers continued to be generated and maintained as the wings moved. This left the machine covered in a full body cloak of golden feathers, broken only by the wing's clasping together. The feathers that created the mech's collar also multipled, until there were five. The five collar feathers converged in a five sided pyramid around the head of the vandread, and it shot forward at speeds that could not be matched by it's foe.

It stopped moving after having run the enemy through, the feathers disappearing entirely. That was the weakness of that attack, it left the vandread without it's feathers to shield it, and lost it's main means of attack since even the claw feathers disappeared.

* * *

Hibiki hadn't remained watching the spectacle of the vandread dealing with the orb, and so he didn't even stop to think about whether or not his partner could do that. And by partner, of course, he meant the vanguard. It had gone under some changes, namely getting bigger, it's face becoming more humanoid, and all around looking less dorky. It was now mainly yellow.

He and the dreads swiftly tore their way through the swarming enemies, and he made a break for the main ship of their foe.

He was swarmed and held mere meters before his target, he idly noticed Dita ignoring Meia's orders not to come closer.

The main ship shot some sort of lightning shaped blades at them, a direct hit that caused an explosion.

* * *

The people on the bridge gasped in fear as Dita and Hibiki were apparantly killed, along with the miracle unit that C.C. and Lelouch had formed being out of commision for who knew how long.

That was, of course, until an enourmous hand reached out of the explosion.

* * *

A giant. A metalic blue giant. It was entirely humanoid, with sharp edges here and there, a large horn upon it's head, and two green lance-like objects attached to it's back. The giant gripped the enemy ship, which looked like an eye socket with just the skin, before ripping apart the closed folds in the front. The lances changed position, pointing inside of the enemy ship.

A flash of green light utterly demolished the enemy's ship, leaving them unable to spawn more of the swarm.

The remaining dread pilots, and the other vandread, which had recharged after three minutes, quickly mopped up the remaining enemies.

It was a decisive victory.

* * *

so, yeah. Tell me what you think, either in a review or in a PM if you're shy :3

((Seriously, though, I like reviews. Every time I get on FF, i check for any new reviews on any of my stories. Perhaps I seek the approval of people I don't know, because I will never get the approval of those I do? :D))


	3. Off the Beaten Path

"Our ship has been completely swallowed up. The bridge, the engine room, and the residential quarters have been completely engulfed." B.C. spoke, standing with one hand behind her back, and the other pressing a button to change the slides on the screen behind her. Before her sat Magno and Meia, the captain and dread squad leader, respectively.

The tanned woman continued, on a brighter note. "Fortunately, the Dread Platform and Reg. system suffered no damage. We are currently cleaning up and installing the new files. The spread of Paksis Pragma has finally reached it's peak. The bridge has stopped sliding, and now rests just outside the ship's garden. All changes to the ship have apparantly ceased for now." She cut her eyes over to the bluenette seated next to Magno. "Your report, Meia?"

Meia nodded. "Thank you, Buzam." She turned her head to look at the captain, before continuing. "The four dreads that were changed by the Paksis Pragma no longer fit in the standard platforms. We've been able to modify the cargo bay on the men's side, and we're storing them there." She frowned. "While making these modifications, we discovered that this ship has not been in use for a very long time. The circuits are decayed and useless."

Buzam picked up from there, while Magno continued to fan herself. "The main concern, however, is our current location. It's hard to believe, but we're a long way from Mejerre. In fact, we're in a completely different nebula. It will take approximately two hundred and seventy days to get back."

Magno stopped fanning herself, and let out a groan. "What did we do to deserve getting swept across the galaxy?" She sighed, before continuing her fanning. "Any word about our new enemy?" She asked Meia.

Meia's eyes widened a bit, and she smiled. "Yes. My team is understaffed, so I sent some volunteers to investigate the site." She averted her eyes from the captain.

Magno blinked. "Volunteers? Who?" She asked.

* * *

Out near the wreckage, a blue dread was flying about. Within the machine sat Dita, who was piloting, and a very bored Gasgogne.

"Wow, this is so exciting isn't it miss Gasco?" Dita, in her ever abundent enthusiasm, asked.

The muscular greenette sighed.

* * *

On the bridge, a tan woman with dark brown hair asked Ezra, the motherly brunette with the yellow bow, how she was doing.

"Oh, I'm fine, thanks." She answered.

The nearby blonde woman sighed in annoyance, fanning herself with a card. "Uhg... what is going on with the air conditioning?" She clicked a button, and her face appeared on a screen in the engine room. "It's eighty two degrees in here!" She complained.

A brunette engineer with a long braided pony tail and large glasses replied. "Stop complaining, it's over eighty six in here."

The girl next to her, who had her hair in a short pony tail, sighed. "No response." She turned, heedless of the sighing blonde on the screen. "Any luck on your end, Parfait?" The blonde deflated, and hung up the call.

Outside of the windowed room, Parfait and another woman sat on a hovering platform, decked out in space suits to protect them from any radiation. Parfait reached up to rub her head through the suit, responding. "This system is ancient. Maybe it's a prototype or something? That would make a lot of sense, wouldn't it?"

The ponytailed engineer sighed, before a voice called "Hey! Come on and help me out over here!"

She looked over to see two other girls trying to hold down an egg shaped robot, who was struggling and yelling a combonation of "Pyoro!" and "Beep!" at them, angrily.

She stared.

* * *

In a large section of the ship, several women were repairing this and that and moving debris away. All around, everyone seemed to be doing something. This section was actually where the two ships met one another, and was almost completely covered in crystals.

Except Paiway. The young girl sat on a makeshift elevator, her notepad and frog purse on her lap, as she spoke to herself. "As the brave crew capture the enemy ship, Magno's Family find themselves with an entirely new crisis..." She was cut off as a woman behind her called her out.

"Hey, Paiway, if you're not doing anything, why don't you help out?" She called.

Paiway frowned, closing her eyes. Couldn't anyone see that she was documenting the events here? This was important! "I am doing something." She replied, petulantly.

"Hey, wait up, we need a lift!" A voice yelled.

Paiway blinked, before turning her attention to the two new occupants of the elevator. Both Jura and Barnette were loaded up with their possesions. For Jura, this meant clothes. Barnette, however, had other things in her bags. Guns, and a whole lot of them. Everything from sniper rifles to submachine guns, you name it, she probably had it. Hell, the woman even had a bazooka around somwhere. The real kicker was that she not only owned them, but knew how to use each and every one.

"Fooling around, again?" Barnette scolded her, as she threw a duffel bag onto the lift.

"Paiwaaaay..." Jura moaned, exasperated.

Paiway put on her puppet, and spoke in a distorted voice, making the puppet move it's mouth. "Wow, Barnette and Jura sure have alot of stuff. Ribbit."

The young girl nodded. "Yep. It's a good thing our rooms weren't messed up, so we don't have to move."

The puppet replied with a "Ribbit."

Jura was not pleased. "She's pushing my buttons."

"You're not helping matters..." Barnette muttered, looking at her. She narrowed her eyes as she noticed something. "Why is this rope tied to you?" She asked.

Paiway smirked, and spoke through the puppet. "This elevator's only a temporary one. You're on your own if it falls, ribbit."

And then she said, in her normal voice, "Seeeee ya!" Before the rope began lifting her up faster than the elevator.

Jura paled. "You're kidding, right?" She called up at the girl.

Barnette looked a bit nervous as she yelled "Paiway!"

But the girl was no longer in their field of vision.

* * *

Lelouch sat against a wall, annoyed. Why was he annoyed, you ask?

Because he and his group had been re-cuffed, stripped to their loincloths, much to the womens amusement, and were now being hosed down with cold water.

Duello was standing in the middle of the room, calm as could be. Hibiki was yelling, trying to avoid the water, and screaming vulgarities and death threats to the women hosing him down. And Bart was dancing around, making odd noises of discomfort as he spun about.

He was the only one seated, and was being sprayed directly on the top of his head. "... I'm almost willing to bet C.C. is the one spraying me." He looked up just enough to glare at his assailant, unable to see due to the helmet. The helmets of the suits, as he learned, had several selections of facial displays. The one currently in use had squinted eyes and a the typical cat smile that looked like a three.

Yeah, it was probably C.C. being cheeky.

These thoughts got stronger as the stream suddenly went _way _lower than it had been, causing him to make a very un-manly shriek as he brought his legs further together, to block the spray.

Luckily for him, the only male who noticed was Duello. And Duello didn't comment on it. He did, however, turn his head to give Lelouch a raised eyebrow and a smirk.

The women were flat-out giggling, and he could hear it.

Damn that Witch.

* * *

"So, these are the only men left, is that right?" Magno asked, getting over the short bout of laughter that Lelouch's yelp had brought on.

Buzam, normally stoic, was currently covering her mouth with her hand. "We'll have to rely on them until we fully understand all the systems on this ship." One may ask just why they were watching nearly naked men being hosed down by their crew. Their answer would be because it was amusing.

A whole new fit of giggles hit B.C. and Magno as Hibiki slipped and fell, knocking over Duello, who was tripped over by Bart. None of the women stopped hosing them.

"Y-yes." Magno quieted her laughter, more serious matters at hand. "I've never seen anything like it before, it was as if the ship had a will of it's own. Very unnerving."

* * *

"It was so unnerving!" A boisterous voice spoke from a cell on the ship. Nearby the cell was a cartoonish drawing of Paiway, frog puppet and all, with the words "Men, beware!" written on it. (I really have no idea WHAT it says XD)

"All around me, my comrades were falling one after one. The only thought on my mind was how close I had come to death. But I pushed on, knowing that it was my duty as a soldier to live on and retake the ship from the women no matter the odds!" Bart was retelling the takeover of the ship from his perspective.

"But now, fate has provided me with three allies! So, whattaya say? We can join forces, I have a great plan!" Bart continued.

But no one in the cell was paying any attention to him at the moment, all off in their own thoughts. 'What a nusaince. If it weren't for C.C. asking me to come along, I would probably have taken over the blasted ship.' Of course, he would do this by geassing Magno, and anyone he needed to in order to get to her, to follow his commands after he used a code word, leaving them as their own people before it's utterance. He didn't want to be stuck on a ship full of unfeeling puppets. Even if they were all gorgeous women. Oh, and the other three men. He didn't think they'd react well to his completely brainwashing the crew, and then he'd need to geass them.

All in all? More trouble than it was worth.

And then his thoughts unknowingly mirrored Hibiki's. 'And just what the hell...'

"Happened there?" Bart asked, he had also been asking the same question it seems. "Who made those vanguards? And why did they combine with Mejerrian fighters?"

"How the heck should I know!" Hibiki yelled. "But forget that, you really think I'm gonna forgive you for socking me back there?" What a nice way to change subjects.

Lelouch smirked. "Or for calling you shorty at the ceremony?" He grinned as Hibiki began shouting, and Bart ran around the small room trying to avoid the boy who was now chasing him.

"I was just thinking of your best interests earlier, and I didn't mean to call you shoooooort!" He yelled, having hopped onto a crate. Hibiki stopped chasing, and just growled at him.

"You really don't know when to shut up, do you? There's enough hot air in here already!" It was true. The AC was buggy as hell, for some reason.

Duello spoke, not taking his eyes off the floor infront of him. "He's simply worried. He's trying to take his mind off things with conversation, please forgive him."

Bart blinked, having been seen through. While he was still serious about wanting to retake the ship, as unlikely as it seemed, he had been rambling in an attempt to keep himself from going nuts. "Wow... you're really sharp, aren't you? No wonder you're one of the elite..." And then he smirked. "So, what do you say? With my superior speaking skills, and your brains, we won't have any trouble dealing with those-"

"Can you repeat that, please?" A voice interupted him.

Bart turned around, pale. "Oh. We were just, sorta, joking around." He had been goofing off that last time. Of course the women chose THEN to walk in.

B.C. smirked. "Oh? I'd love to hear your jokes. You will come with me, won't you?"

Bart's facial expression made it obvious that he was nervous. "As long as it's of a social nature, sure."

* * *

Out in space, two figures in space suits floated nearby the wreckage of their enemy's ship.

"This place looks more like a giant factory than a spaceship..." One noted, taking pictures.

The other, it's helm set on the stereotypical alien face, yelled "Wow! Look at that, it's amazing!"

Gasgogne heard the captain's voice through her comm. "Well? Anything substantial?" The elderly woman asked, looking through a first person view of what Gasgogne was seeing.

A small orange tinted square in the bottom left of the screen showed the greenette's face as she spoke. "We're searching the database as we speak. No clues now, but it's pretty hefty..."

Suddenly, Dita popped up on the screen, scaring the living daylight out of the two observers. "Hey miss Gasco! Would it be okay if i looked around for a while?"

Gascogne got an irritated look, putting a hand on Dita' helmet. "Absolutely not, we got a lotta work to do!" She pushed, sending Dita spiraling backwards.

"Waaaaa! I can't stoooooop!" She yelled.

A panel beeped on Magno's left, and she pressed a button to answer. "Yes, B.C.?"

"Captain, I brought our navigator." The silver haired woman replied.

Magno nodded. "I'll be right there. I leave the investigation in your capable hands, Gasgogne." The screen went black, and Magno leaned back in her chair, causing it to move backwards until it reached a wall. It turned, before the wall opened and the chair descended down a slope and attached itself to the floor at the bottom.

She looked over the ship's bridge, spotting B.C. and Bart immediately. Bart spoke up. "Why, h-hello there. I hear you wanted something from me?"

Magno nodded. "Yes. That thing." She pointed her fan at the glowing blue pool that was now the ship's operating system. "We've been unable to get it working. So, tell us how you did it."

Bart blinked, before nodding nervously. "A-alright. I suppose I have no choice, given the circumstances." He accentuated this by giving the restraints a tug. B.C. clicked a button, releasing him. He nodded, before walking over to the bridge. "Right. So, this is a male ship, meaning only men can operate it. That said, I suppose it's fortunate that I'm actually here, yes? At the moment, I may be an indispensable-" The powers that be interupted the poor boy again, this time in the form of a gelatinous arm yanking him into the pool.

The women on the bridge just stared, the silence only broken by Magno's sigh. "I really don't understand this system."

And then the ship began rocking back and forth, having made an abrupt sharp turn, before launching off in a seemingly random direction. "What in blazes did you do in there, boy!" Magno shouted, as a screen of a terrefied Bart appeared.

"Now hold on a minute, I didn't do anything!" He shouted.

Ezra attempted to contact Gascogne and Dita, but was met with failure. The woman was sweating heavily, and as B.C. began ordering this or that, she blacked out.

"Ezra!" Buzam yelled, shocked. "What's wrong?"

The brunette was out cold at her station, cheeks flushed and breathing heavy.

* * *

Lelouch was in a sphere of blue. "Again? Perhaps now you will tell me what reason you had to reincarnate me? Or how the vanguard and dreads combined?"

He was met with silence. "I see. Perhaps I was wrong, and it is not a sentient being..."

Suddenly, he felt as though he had been struck by lightning. "Ahhh!" He yelped. and then he found himself reliving an old memory.

* * *

_Flashback_

* * *

_A young Lelouch, about fifteen, sat brooding in his room. And then a younger blonde rushed in, yelling something he didn't quite catch due to her hurried tone and his own thoughts._

_"Milly, repeat that in English? Or, hell, even Japanese if you like." Lelouch joked. Many Britanians would take offence to his even mentioning the term "Japanese", but not Milly._

_No, Milly took it upon herself to tell him that he was to join the student council. In Japanese, no less._

_"What? Why would I join the student council? I have the chess team as an extra-curicular activity, as per the requirements of the school." He didn't even show up to the meetings half the time. The members of the team didn't even pose a challenge, and so he was really just a member in name._

_"Because all the paperwork is done anyway?" Milly offered, teasingly._

_Lelouch frowned. "Why would you do that, Milly?" He didn't get it._

_All of a sudden, Milly seemed to get serious. "You need to make more friends, Lelouch. Just me, Nunnally, and Sayoko? Lelouch, you're like a recluse! ... Hey, that rhymed. Lelouch the Recluse... could be a book title... ANYWAY!" She had gotten carried off into her own world, and Lelouch had just rolled his eyes as he lay staring at the ceiling. "Friends are like... like mirrors!"_

_Lelouch rose a questioning eyebrow. "What?" He asked._

_"Mirrors! It's through friends that you see yourself, learn more about yourself!" She exclaimed, having come up with a little phrase. Or maybe she saw it online and decided to put it to use._

_Probably the second._

_"GUTS!" She yelled, pointing at him._

_He glared at her, but eventually relented._

_After all, this was Milly. What the hell was he gonna do, say no?_

* * *

Lelouch awoke to the sound of someone yelling. And he was having such a nice dream, too...

"What the hell are you doing!" Hibiki shouted, glaring at Duello. Lelouch woke up, and gave the two an annoyed look.

"I was checking your temperature, that's all." Duello said.

Hibiki seemed touched at the concern, calming down. "I'm fine, Doc. Nothing's wrong."

"Except that you were mumbling in your sleep. Who's Grampa?" Duello pushed on.

Lelouch raised an eyebrow as Hibiki claimed that grampa was just the man who had raised him since he was young. And at Duello's skeptical reply.

Anything he was going to say was cut off as B.C. returned to their cell. This time, however, the two guards with her were notably buffer.

"You're called Duello, right? It's your turn to come with me, if you're not too busy of course." She said.

Duello nodded, slowly.

* * *

"The crystaline response is down!" "Temperature is up six degrees!" "Oh nooooo..."

These were the things Parfait heard as she entered the room, quickly pulling the top half of her jumpsuit down, and tying it around her waist by the sleeves. "What's going on here, girls?" She asked.

"I have no idea where to even start..." One of them bemoaned.

"Just do what you can." Parfait replied, before looking over to another girl, who was looking at something on a table. "What about you, something interesting?" She asked.

The other girl just shrugged, as Pyoro rocked back and forth on his side. "Ooooohhhh... siiiiick... beeeeeep."

"... Sick?" Parfait muttered.

* * *

Aaaa

As the sickbay doors opened, it was revealed to Duello that there was only one patient, a brunette. She had another woman nearby, probably to call for help should her condition worsen.

"She has a high fever and it won't go down. You'll take a look at her, yes?" B.C. asked.

Duello frowned. "Curious. I was under the impression that your medical technology was fairly advanced..." It would have to be for them to have an inexperienced medic such as Paiway around. He couldn't say anything about the girl's talent in the medical field, but he was certain she didn't have the experience to be the sole doctor onboard this ship.

After all, the were calling in one of their prisoners to examine a member of their crew.

B.C. shook her head. "You really are one of the elite. Probing for information whenever the chance arises." Duello shrugged, and she continued. "As of right now, around ninety percent of our ship's systems are down. Unfortunately, this includes our medical systems. Good enough for you?" She asked.

Duello smiled a bit. "I'll examine the patient."

* * *

"Scanners indicate a nebula straight ahead of us." One of the bridge operators, a tan woman with dark hair, said.

Her blonde coworker added her own two cents. "We can't regain control of the ship."

Magno sighed, her hood was down, she had an electric fan running, and she also sat an icepack upon her head. The ice was melting already. "It's just one problem after another, isn't it?"

"The platform is down, we can't retrieve Dita and Gasgo." Meia said as she appeared onscreen.

And then Barnette popped up, the area around her looked dark and cramped. "Jura and I've been trapped in this elevator for hours!" She cried.

"Someone help ussss!" Jura yelled in the background.

And then they saw Bart freaking out on screen, trying to stop the ship. He failed.

* * *

Duello held a small device over Ezra's stomach, occasionally it would beep, a small red circle at the botton would turn greenish blue, and then back. "Hmmm..."

And then the shi rocked, and the lights went off. Faster than anyone could react, Duello had reached over and grabbed a comm. from the pouch on the right thigh of the guard beside him, before speaking into it. "Engineering, make power to the sick bay a priority, I'm working on a patient."

Parfait responded. "Hey, we've got our own problems here. I'd love to do that for you, but I can't read the men's language."

Duello grunted, tempted to go down there himself, before thinking better of it. 'If I left and something went wrong, then I couldn't forgive myself. Perhaps... yes, that will work.' He knew of two other prisoners on the ship, and more specifically one who may actually be helpful to the engineers. There was no way he was going to have them send Hibiki into a room of potentially fragile equipment.

"Hn. Go grab Lelouch from the brig, he can read the men's language and is not tied up at the moment." Duello said.

"Oh? Why not go yourself?" B.C. asked.

"Because leaving a patient without medical supervision is a last resort. If it were just Hibiki and I, then I would go." He replied.

B.C. saw his point. She wouldn't be suprised if Hibiki broke something down there, and that was the last thing they needed. "Alright, I'll go get him. You hear that, Parfait?"

"Yes, I hear you." She replied.

And then the dark haired girl he had swiped the comm. from tapped him on the shoulder. "Can I have my comm. back now?" She asked, irritated.

Duello shrugged, handing it over.

* * *

Lelouch was hot. Very hot. And it was pissing him off. "Fuck this." He didn't curse like that too terribly often, but he felt it was deserved this time. It had to be over ninety degrees in here!

And so, he went through the painfully annoying process of removing his military jacket, pulling it up to his wrists since he was currently cuffed. This was not enough, he soon realized, because the undershirt he wore was also very warm, forcing him to remove that too. And then he reached down and pulled off his boots, leaving him in a pair of dark socks. This also allowed his pants to poof out a bit, since they were no longer tucked into his boots.

Hibiki had the same idea, and was currently laying down, using his removed shirt and jacket as a pillow. The purple haired boy had been the first to start stripping, and had also decided to remove his pants. This left him in his loincloth.

And this was the sight B.C. walked in to see. "... Right. You, Lelouch wasn't it? I'm here for you now." She looked at Hibiki. "Your turn will be soon, don't worry."

As she pressed a button to uncuff Lelouch, the boy removed his hands from the jacket and shirt, before making his way out of the cell, still shirtless. B.C. looked at him funny. "What?" He replied. "I've been cooking alive in there for the past few hours, and the only thing I have to wear is uncomfortably hot."

She sighed, deciding that it didn't matter, before leading him away. As they walked, she decided to speak with him, ignoring the odd looks the crew were shooting their way. "So, you're not scared that we've been coming in and taking you boys away one by one with no explanation?"

"No. Bart is currently piloting the ship, right?" He asked, and B.C. nodded, a bit suprised. "And one or more of your crew either fell sick or were injured, and the systems are down. That is why Duello was called away, correct?"

"How the hell did you figure that out?" B.C. was flat out shocked. Seriously, he had just figured out exactly what had happened?

"After Bart was taken away, the ship rocked around, but no alarms were set off. From this I gathered we were in motion, and the only one able to pilot the ship was Bart. Duello is the only one of us with medical experience, and from what I've seen your only doctor is a young girl with a puppet and pigtails. And now I'm assuming you're asking me along to figure out what is wrong with the power, because something down with the engineers is written in male, and they can't figure it out? And rather than bringing Duello, he suggested I go because he didn't want to leave his patient alone?" He effectively summarized the events leading up to now.

Buzam just stared at him for a moment. "... And here I thought that nothing would suprise me after the explosion. Yes, that is exactly what is going on. Now hurry up."

* * *

A door opened, and in stepped two people. A girl with brown hair, large glasses, and cream colored overalls summed it up best. "Eeeek! It's a man!" She yelled, backing away in fright.

"Oh, there you are. Come over here, quickly." Parfait didn't even bother to question why he was shirtless, she was pretty much in the same boat. "I'm trying to check the status of the Paksis, but I can't read the data."

Lelouch quirked a brow. "You've linked the robot with the Paksis?"

Parfait pointed at the small robot, who was rocking back and forth with his screen filled with messages written in Male. "Well, yeah. I can't figure out why, but this guy and the Paksis share a wavelength, so I thought it would make a good sensor bet I can't read the display." She pouted.

"I understand." Lelouch leaned in, quickly scanning through the text.

"How is it?" Parfait asked.

"Impurities are spreading in the engine room, likely due to all of the sudden changes." Lelouch replied.

Parfait spoke, arms crossed under her breasts. "As I understand it, the the system was originally meant to collect and tap into the energy from the crystal's growth. But this sort of reaction..."

Lelouch frowned thoughtfully. "I'd say the fusion of the two ships is the cause of it."

"Probably." Parfait replied. "But, do you know how to correct it?" She asked.

Lelouch sighed. "The only reason I was brought down here was because I can read, I'm not much of an engineer."

Parfait frowned. "I see. Well, just try to stay out of the way for now, alright?" And here she had hoped for someone who could help.

"Right." Lelouch muttered, feeling useless.

After a few minutes of people constantly running around, and not really doing anything, the ship rocked again. This was followed by a screen flashing, drawing Lelouch's attention. "It appears the ship's parameters have changed."

Parfait looked up, before her attention was drawn to Pyoro. "Pyoro!" Suddenly, the cords attached to the robot came undone, leaving it sitting on the table with it's "eyes" closed. "I'mmm fine thank yooou..." He spoke.

"What is with this thing?" Parfait asked, rhetorically.

"Perhaps it's the nebula we've entered, something about it's composition?" Lelouch offered.

Hidden behind her glasses, Parfait's eyes widened in realization. "That's it! The ship must be getting rid of the built up impurities and neutralizing them all!" She placed her fist in her palm.

Lelouch blinked. "It's behaving like a living thing, it seems. Interesting."

Parfait grinned. "It's my belief that anything that moves is alive." She said.

His eyebrow went up. "Even more interesting."

* * *

On the bridge, a screen popped up, B.C. appearing. "captain, I have a suggestion for you."

Magno, an eye covered by her new, larger, ice pack, replied. "Oh? Do tell."

B.C. continued. "Our investigations have determined that the male vanguard can launch. It may be a risk, but the remaining man could use it to search for Dita and Gascogne."

"Hmmm, that's not a bad idea." Wait. "But, why are you in the male section of the ship?"

B.C. hesitated for a moment. "I'm fulfilling my duty as your first mate."

* * *

Hibiki lay as he was when Lelouch had left, though much worse for the wear. It had to have been ten degrees hotter in here than anywhere else in the ship, he was baking!

"What an interesting outfit, I never did get to comment on that." B.C. was referring to the peculiar design on his loincloth, which seemed to be a sharp toothed ape of some sort.

"Oh? Is it my turn to come with you now? You did say it would come." Hibiki replied snarkily.

"Sorry, no. I'm going to be honest with you; we left two crewmates behind, and we'd like you to go get them."

"Oh? And give me one good reason why I should care?" Hibiki answered.

"Look. This is not the time for men and women to be fighting. You saw it too, right? The mysterious unknown enemy? I thought you qould be willing to help us. The strong are supposed to protect the weak, isn't that common sense in a man's world?" She asked, turning to walk away.

"Fine, damn it." Hibiki grunted as he sat up. "Look, I already showed you a side of me I probably shouldn't have, but not again. I'm not giving in to your threats any more."

B.C. raised a brow. "Oh? Am I threatening you? It wasn't meant to seem that way..."

* * *

Lelouch and Parfait were standing before two terminals, and Lelouch called out. "The intake out take ratio is off." He said.

"It's because there aren't enough link routes!" Parfait exclaimed.

"And the existing ones simply can't handle the stress." Lelouch muttered.

"Don't give up like that, surely there's a way!" Parfait shouted.

Lelouch came up with something after a second. "Maybe a bypass would work? If a river begins to flood, giving it another way to run will prevent it." He replied.

"A detour, huh? That's a great idea! And you said you were just here to read!' She gave him a pat on the shoulder, before taking off to shout to the others that they needed to get some work done.

Lelouch sighed. "I really hope this works."

* * *

"We've managed to secure up to thirty six bypasses." Parfait said. "What about you?"

Lelouch was working on the robot. "Nothing more I can do. We'll have to make due with what we have."

"What? But it will throw the balance off completely if there aren't enough detours."

Lelouch shrugged. "You said you believed everything that moved was alive, right?"

Parfait blinked, suprised by the sudden question. "Y-yes, why?"

"I suppose, what I mean to say, is that we need to believe in the ship's will to live." He smiled. 'And I'm almost certain that the Paksis has a will to live. Now, I suppose we see how important the ship is to it's survival.' He thought to himself.

* * *

On the bridge, everyone was feeling nervous. "The ice mass is getting closer." One of them spoke.

"No response from the Paksis!" Another shouted.

"We have no control!" The blonde pointed out.

"Twelve thousand..." Another added.

Magno sighed, painfully aware of the dire situation before them. She slumped in her chair, before a cool breeze caught her attention. "Eh!" Her fan was back on, and that meant...

"Ah! The system's just booted back up!" The bridge crew shouted in glee.

* * *

"Whoaoaoaoaoao!" Pyoro shouted, getting the attention of Lelouch and Parfait. Suddenly, he popped into a stand, and saluted. "I am back and ready for duty!"

"Alright! The system is back to normal, are we good or what!" Parfait shouted, jubilantly, before grabbing Lelouch's hand in a congratulatory pose. And then she realized what she had just done, and blushed.

She didn't let go, though. Lelouch just looked a bit suprised. And Pyoro looked confused.

* * *

Bart tried to move the ship, but there simply wasn't enough time. "I'm gonna diiiie!" He shouted, before realizing that he was, infact, alive.

Outside of the ship, a giant blue humanoid machine sat in all it's glory, having literally sliced the giant asteroid into bits.

On the inside of this mech, a purple haired boy and a redheaded girl sat in a seat, the girl on the lap of the boy. "See, I told you it was amazing!" The girl shouted, bouncing up and down on her seat. The seat, namely Hibiki, was not enjoying this.

Gascogne, the target of Dita's enthusiasm, just growled. "Alright, alright, just get me outt'a here."

* * *

Later, Buzam stood on the bridge, speaking to the entire ship through a series of screens appearing in almost every room on the ship, even one in the brig.

"The captain and I have concluded our meeting. We have determined that we should inform the entire crew of our current situation. Upon anylizing the data from the enemy debris, we've gathered some intellegence on the enemy. I'd like you all to take a look at this image." The screen split, and a purple planet with several gear-like patterns was shown. "This is their home planet. We don't know it's exact location, but they seem to have a lot of fire-power. We are currently in the enemy's territory and they are attacking us because they perceive our presence to be hostile. Thus, we predict more battles with this enemy on our trip back to Mejerrian space. We learned something else from this data, aswell. It seems our enemy is planning an operation that calls for the destruction of our home planet, Mejerre, asswell as the male home planet, Tarak. Our faceless enemy is, for some unknown reason, preparing for the utter destruction of our home planets."

The screen changed, and Magno began to speak. "We are pirates. And as such, our loyalties are not bound to either Mejere or Tarak. However, it is not in our best interest to allow for the destruction of potential customers. And so I plan to reach our home system before the enemy, and inform BOTH worlds of this crisis. In order to succeed in this endeavor, we will need to integrate the captured men into our crew."

The two bridge workers were shocked. "Huh?" They muttered.

A chuckle drew their attention. "So you finally see it my way..." Bart muttered, teetering on the edge of consciousness.

Magno continued. "There are many things we do not understand yet, such as the ships and those large machines. However, I am certain we will learn these things piece by piece over the course of our journey. I expect cooperation from the entire crew, that is all." The screens cut off.

And then Duello and Ezra walked in. Ezra spoke. "Sorry I was down before, I'll be returning to my station." She bowed her head.

B.C. spoke next. "So, have you determined the cause of the fever?"

Ezra looked down, and began nervously trying to speak, before Duello decided to intervene. "There appears to be some sort of parisitic organism feeding on my patient's body."

The bridge crew all had their own looks of disgust, before an embarassed Ezra shouted "No, no! I'm... I'm going to be having a baby!"

Looks of disgust turned to joy. "Oh, Ezra, when in the world did you agree to be a Fhama?"

"Who's the Ohma?"

And Bart just had to speak. "But... I thought babies were made in a factory."

"I had heard the rumors women reproduced internally... interesting." Duello muttered.

"Geeze, Ezra, why didn't you tell us?" The tan operator, Amarone, asked.

"Yeah, come one, tell us, who's the Ohma?" The blonde, Belvedere, continued.

"What exactly is that?" Duello asked.

Amarone spoke. "The Ohma donates an egg, and the Fhama nurtures it in her womb."

Belvedere continued. "Yeah, don't you know anything?"

"No, this is the first I've heard of it." Duello admitted.

* * *

And in a dark, enclosed space, we find Jura, Barnette, and... C.C.?

"I am never getting on an elevator with you two again." A very cramped C.C. muttered, as the other two complained.


	4. Dude Looks Like a Lady

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

* * *

Things had calmed down ever since the announcement that the men were to be integrated into the ship. While Duello and Bart were both in rather important positions, such as being the only trained doctor, or the only one able to move the ship, Lelouch and Hibiki had practically faded into the background.

In fact, it seemed that the only times either of them were noticed were the random scenes caused by Hibiki and Dita.

Highlighting this fact would be the incident earlier this very day, in which Hibiki had to forcefully remove Dita from the newly dubbed "Men's Room".

And what, might you ask, was Dita doing in the Men's Room? She had heard a rumor that men had a tube inbetween their legs, which prompted her to investigate.

Hibiki did not appreciate her curiosity.

Meanwhile, Lelouch was pretty much a background character. He wandered around, chatted with C.C. or Parfait, occasionally with Duello in the medical bay, sometimes messed with various women by complimenting them, he just loved watching them try to figure out whether or not he was mocking them, and relaxed in the large garden. All in all, Lelouch was fine.

He had also finally been given his duffel bag, and was now wearing a new outfit, rather than his military get-up. He wore pants that were much like Hibiki's, in a shade just a bit darker than the other boy. A purple cloth belt was tied around them, to hold them up. He also wore a pair of black sandles that wrapped around his heel, rather than the open heeled design that many other first class citizens had gone with. His shirt was gold, and sleeveless, and over it he wore a light jacket that cut off at his ribs, with wide sleeves that went to his wrists. The sleeves of the jacket were purple, the rest was black.

As a matter of fact, we find our dark haired protaganist seated by the human made river that flowed throw the ship's garden, looking at the reflection of the stars on the water's surface. "I would never have dreamed I'd be in a place like this." He chuckled, shaking his head.

"Yeah, I could bet you'd never expect to have been captured by females, and subsequently find yourself as a member of their pirate crew?" A voice called.

Lelouch turned around and spotted Parfait, along with Pyoro. she held in her hand a megaphone, along with several slips of paper decorated with forks and spoons. "Ah, Parfait. How are you?"

The bespactacled engineer shrugged. "I'm fine. We've all agreed that the Ikazuchi is a bad name for this ship, so now we're taking vote's as to what it's new name will be." She said. "And since the men are now a part of our crew, I figured I'd ask them too." She pouted a bit. "Hibiki just blew me off, Duello said he couldn't think of one, and Bart went crazy trying to think up something good."

Lelouch stood, walking over to her. "Interesting, where are the suggestions?" Suddenly, Pyoro hopped in front of him, levitating at eye level. His screen flashed, and several names popped up. "Alright." He smiled, remembering something. "My suggestion is..." He paused, typing the word into the database they had compiled. "The Avalon." He didn't think he'd win, and if he did then it would be irony at it's finest.

Parfait blinked, not that he could tell behind her odd, reflective glasses. "The Avalon, huh? Interesting, you might just win!"

Lelouch looked over the suggestions for a moment. "The Nirvana? Who's suggestion was that?" He asked.

"Oh, that one was the commander's." Parfait replied.

"I see." He said. "Hm. I'm feeling rather bored, so I'll tag along with you, if that's alright?"

Parfait smiled. "Sure, the more the merrier, right Pyoro?"

The robot hopped around, beeping and yelling "Pyoro".

* * *

Eventually, Parfait and company ran into Jura and Barnette. While Parfait was explaining the contest to Jura, Lelouch couldn't help but notice the looks he was getting from Barnette.

She seemed to be subtley glaring at him, while still listening to the conversation with the others. And so, Lelouch decided to be cheeky and smile at her, while waving. This wasn't noticed by Parfait, because he was behind her, or Jura, because she was not the most attentive person in the world.

And so this leaves us with an angrily twitching Barnette, and a smug Lelouch having a staring contest while Parfait and Jura conversed.

"Well then." Jura struck a pose. "The Luxury Night is my contribution, you'll put that in for me won't you Pyoro?" And then she began to walk away.

"Lingerie Night? Hey, wait!" Pyoro called out, but Jura had wandered off already.

Barnette entered her own contribution, before following Jura. She looked over her shoulder one last time, and saw Lelouch waving at her again. She growled something about cheeky men, before continuing on her way.

Lelouch chuckled, much to the confusion of his company. "Oh, nothing, nothing. Just making friends." His laughter got stronger.

* * *

In the sick bay, a screen on the wall showed the image of a fetus. Duello sat with one of his tools over the stomach of Ezra, who lie in the bed.

"How peculiar. This organ doesn't even exist in the male physiology*." Duello muttered, curious.

"It's called the uterus." Ezra supplied, hands moving to her stomach as Duello moved the device.

"A reproductive organ, very interesting." He replied, smiling. He loved learning new things, and he was certainly learning a great deal from these women.

Ezra spoke. "I wanted to have a baby, you see, so I decided to carry this seed."

"What's the seed?" Duello asked.

Ezra was happy to help someone learn. "It's when you take an egg from someone who wants to be an Ohma, and splice it with genes from the Fhama. Then you implant it into her uterus. Where I'm from, anyone who wants to be a Fhama can be."

Duello smiled. "I see. So does that mean I could be one, too?" He held back his chuckles at her expression.

* * *

In a dimly lit room, B.C. was typing something into a capsule of some sort. She slipped a small drive of some sort into it, before the sudden appearance of a screen bearing Magno's face startled her.

Magno spoke. "B.C.."

"The communication pod is ready." B.C. replied, calming herself.

"Why are there two pods, B.C.?" Magno asked, sounding a bit suspicious.

"One is for Tarak. I believed it was prudent to inform Tarak of this crisis aswell." She said.

"All right, do it." Magno replied.

B.C. nodded. "Very well." she kneeled down, pressing a few buttons, before the pods launched away at high speed.

Not ten seconds later they were both destroyed in an explosion. B.C. gasped, and Magno shouted "All hands to battle stations!" Over the ships intercom.

* * *

Lelouch ran off quickly. "Sorry Parfait, I need to go earn my keep!" He shouted behind him, leaving the brunette to her business.

During his run he encountered Hibiki. "Hey Lelouch, you headed for the vanguards too? Man, I can't wait to tear up these things!"

"Yes, I find a certain satisfaction in demolishing enemies myself." He answered as they ran.

Within a minute they had arrived, luckily both knew the way. They were the first, followed shortly by Dita, who arrived just as the vanguards launched.

And then Meia and Jura arrived, Meia chastising Dita for not being in her dread. "Dita, get in your dread, don't just stand there."

"Sorry Meia, but it's just that Mister Alien just fleeeeew out there!" the redhead replied, giving Meia pause.

"He's already out there?" Jura asked.

"Both of them are." Another voice cut in, revealing C.C. had just come in. "Not likely they'll need us, it's a rather small attack this time..."

* * *

"You guys better get ready, cause Hibiki's here!" Afforementioned boy shouted as he sliced through a few of the enemies with his vanguard's sword.

Lelouch just shook his head, blasting away at the enemies with his hadron spheres.

As the small attack party's final attack, four of them converged on Hibiki's vanguard, while ten went for the Anubis. They sought to outnumber the weapons of the enemy in one final attempt.

Sadly, neither of the mechs had only one means of atack. Hibiki decided to try something; since he had willed the mech to move, and was continuing to do so, maybe it had other weapons he needed to will it to use?

And it did. The four incoming enemies came from him in an "x" formation, and the vanguard suddenly shot what appeared to be homing lasers from it's legs, which swiftly destroyed the enemy attackers. Those on the bridge, however, just saw the large explosion, and had no knowledge of who came out on top. It soon became obvious, as a cross legged vanguard with it's sword sheathed waved at the ship.

Lelouch's conflict was more obvious. The ten attempted to swarm him from every angle but directly above, forcing him to go that way, which is what the enemy wanted. However, they soon learned that he was not playing the game by their rules, as all ten fingers of the Anubis shout out, attached to dark wires, and pierced all but two of the enemies. Those two soon found themselves crushed by their allies as Lelouch crossed the arms of his mech, smashing them together in one large explosion.

Hibiki and Lelouch popped up on screen on the bridge, with Hibiki boasting. "Did all you ladies see that? Looks like you just can't get on without me. Hahaha!" The yellow vanguard was flexing outside of the bridge, seemingly of it's own volitition since Hibiki was laughing maniacally.

The Anubis bopped it over the head. "Yes, yes, you're so macho, now come one and let's get back inside. Before the universe decides to blow you up at random for pushing your luck." Lelouch sighed.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah! I'm goin'." Hibiki grunted.

The scene went from obnoxious to amusing, in Magno's opinion.

* * *

Hibiki opened the cockpit of the vanguard, crouching on the edge as though he was about to leap off, before noticing an aprehensive looking Dita, and Meia, who seemed to be quite angry, if the heavy breathing and tense posture was any indication. Hibiki, of course, didn't notice either of these things.

Lelouch, who had already left his machine, did, however.

"Heh, I bet you're here to thank me for taking care of things again, right?" He said.

"Don't be so conceited. The two of you put yourselves in a lot of danger doing that. You are to only act on my direct orders." She said.

"Hah!" Hibiki laughed, jumping from his mech and onto the ground. "How do you plan to beat our enemy if you let a little danger stop you?" He asked in his usual boisterous tone.

Lelouch would admit, he did have a point. "It's true. The two of us know what we're getting into."

"Yeah, I guess you don't gotta worry about danger anymore, anyway. You got us to protect ya' now!" The purple haired boy mocked, flexing his arm.

Meia closed her eyes, composing herself, before replying. "Small dogs bark the loudest."

Hibiki growled. "Better than not being able to bark at all."

Meia returned with "But it's not you barking at all, is it? It's your machine, right?"

"Look, lady, you trying to start trouble with me?"

"What's the matter, can't handle the truth?"

"Who died and made you king? Who do you think you are!"

"You are OUR prisoner!"

And there, Lelouch felt like intervening. "Odd. I recall the captain saying something about how we were part of the crew... or was I mistaken?"

Meia frowned. "You're only a part of the crew until you cease to be useful."

Lelouch laughed. "Oh? And which of us just halted an attack on the ship? I notice you were waiting for us here, does that mean you were too slow to get here? Or did you just stand around and let us take care of it, just to complain after we finished?" He saw her falter a bit.

And then she turned and walked off.

* * *

"I said..." Hibiki slammed his hands onto the console infront of him, much to Magno's annoyance. "I saved you guys, so at least listen to me when I ask for a favor. Isn't that how the world goes around?"

Magno smirked. "How the world goes around, huh? Alright, what is it you'd like me to do." She said.

Hibiki nodded. "First off, you really gotta do something about that crazy UFO girl."

"Oh, you must mean Dita." Magno said.

"Yeah! And also, that creepy girl with the thingy on her face. Tell her to quit complaining! She shouldn't try to butt in on a man's fight." He exclaimed.

Over by the bridge, Bart sighed. "Negotiations really are not his thing." He muttered. Damnit, didn't the kid realize just how thin the ice they were on was? Now was NOT the time to make such large demands, officially prisoners or not.

"Alright." Magno spoke after a moment. A thought came to mind, and she would have grinned had it not set off the danger alarms in Hibiki's mind. "Am I to assume your other friend feels the same way?"

Of course she meant Lelouch. Hibiki nodded. "Yeah, he wasn't happy with her either."

Hook. Line. And sinker. Magno did smile this time. "Alright, how about I assign the two of you to the Reg. crew?"

"Reg crew?" Hibiki asked.

"Yes. It's a very interesting job, and it's under different management." She said.

"Different management, huh? Sounds good to me." He muttered. "Thanks, by the way." He added, as an afterthought. Meh, Lelouch told him he should try being polite, at least to the captain. Saying thanks wasn't too much for him.

As he walked off, Magno clicked a button, and a small screen appeared. "Well, whattaya think of that?" She asked the person on the other side.

Meia replied. "Perfect, and thank you very much, captain."

Magno shrugged. "We'll leave those guys in Gascogne's capable hands for now."

"I apologize for this, but having a man among us acting on his own could damage the pilots morale." While it wasn't entirely untrue, Meia just wanted the insubordinate men gone. She allowed the call to end.

Magno sat, amused. "Some things never change. Stubborn as a mule."

Bart rolled his eyes. "That's not a nice thing to say." He muttered.

"How long are you going to keep eavesdropping!" Magno yelled, startling Bart.

"I'm going, I'm going!" He shouted, diving into the pool. He frowned. "Geeze, why do I get all the flack?" He muttered, fingers rapidly typing away on various screens all around him. In such a short time, Bart had seriously improved with the ship's controls.

He popped out of the pool, saluting. "Auto-pilot engaged." He said, before slumping. "I'm going on break."

And then he was off.

* * *

Hibiki walked through the doors, full of enthusiasm, tugging a less than pleased Lelouch with him.

"Alright, Reg. Central!" Hibiki shouted as he entered.

"Welcome to Reg. Central!" Six voices greeted the two of them, and Hibiki saw two consoles with three screens each, each screen having a woman dressed in a red, white and pink uniform, with large pink bows at the back, and crownlike headbands atop their heads.

"Hgg..." Hibiki made a funny noise, flinching. "What is this place and what do they do here?" he asked himself.

Lelouch just sighed. 'Why do I get the feeling I'm going to be forced into a dress?'

* * *

That feeling he had? It was because he was getting put in a dress. He found himself in one of the uniforms, alongside Hibiki. The two of them had also been made to wear stockings. And fake breasts.

All in all, if someone were to look at Hibiki? They would see a tomboyish girl, or, more likely, a guy in a dress, with fake breasts.

If they looked at Lelouch? They would assume he was a very attractive girl with short hair.

Three of the six girls from before were teaching Hibiki his lines, while Lelouch was learning from the others.

He sighed, before giving his best smile. "Welcome." He held up his hand, as though to show them something in it. "This is our easy to read menu. We highly suggest the kamikaze set. The regular menu consists of-"

Hibiki, who had reached the same line, lost it, distracting Lelouch and the others.

"ARRG! THERE'S NO WAY I CAN DO THIS KINDA STUFF!" He shouted.

"But you were doing it." The trio of girls before him argued.

Suddenly, his hand slammed onto the console, frightening the three girls, who then huddled together. "What the hell is a kamikaze set supposed to be, anyway!" He yelled. "I DON'T GET THIS!"

The girls looked absolutely frightened.

And then another voice answered. "It's a set with bombs and only enough fuel for one way." The scared trio quickly shuffled away, revealing Gascogne with her arms crossed. She smirked, chewing on a long piece of straw. "It was designed with men in mind."

"So you're the one in charge! What the hell is this place, all you do is sit around and SMILE!" He shouted.

"We try to see our friends off with a smile at reg. That's one of the most important jobs we have." She replied calmly.

Hibiki was anything but calm. "Important! What's so important about working here? It's royally pissing me off!"

He backed down as Gascogne walked closer. "This is an important job. Don't think for a second the pilots are out there flying alone. The only reason they can fight is because of all the support they get from us. You see, they're the actors, we're stagehands." She said.

"Stagehands?" Hibiki questioned.

Lelouch sighed.

"Not you guys, no. It's not your style, right?" She said, motioning for them to follow. "Come with me, to the back."

* * *

A door opened, and out flooded several decades worthe of Tarak food pellets, burrying Pyoro and Parfait.

"Uhg! What IS this stuff!" Parfait shouted, popping her head out from the pile, while Pyoro was still stuck upside down.

"This is food from Tarak." The robot explained.

Parfait's eyes widened. "This is food? Men EAT this?" She tried one of them, and spit it out quickly. "Oh my goodness..." She couldn't imagine eating this at all, but men had to eat it daily? That was terrible.

"One tablet ensures up to three hundred hours of labor." Pyoro righted himself, at last.

Dita stuck her head into the room. "Hey, have you guys seen Mr. Alien?" She asked.

"Oh, I heard he was assigned to reg." She replied, giggling as she recalled just who else was sent there. The thought of Hibiki in the uniform was funny, but Lelouch? It would be hilarious to see.

"Hey... what's this stuff?" Dita finally noticed the food pellets.

"Oh. Pyoro was just telling me it was alien food." She blinked as Dita moved to eat one. "Wait, they're!"

"BLEAGH." Dita actually swallowed the one she tasted. "Oh my goodness... poor Mr. Alien... wait, I know! I'll make him something good to eat!" And she turned to leave.

"Wait, what about a name for the ship?" Parfait asked.

"How about Roswell?" And then Dita was gone.

* * *

An image of a planet was floating in the middle of the room. "This is the women's planet? Don't you think it looks kinda gaudy?" Hibiki asked Gascogne.

"Sure do." She replied. "It's a real clean and beautiful place, though. Don't get me wrong, I hate how superficial everything is. Mejerre is a world where everyone's friendly with eachother, and everyone's having a good time. But that's just on the surface. Most of the women love to show off, they do stupid things like compete over who has the better garden. They're always wasting energy on stuff like that, and because of it, one of our living units had to be shut down. Our captain had nowhere else to go, and so she started up this pirate gig with us."

More images popped up, this time of a raid on some ship.

"Because we're pirates, we don't care about whether your men or women. That's why you're still alive. If we were the real Mejerran army, you'd have been dead before you could spit out the word please."

Hibiki was lost in thought, and didn't notice until Gascogne popped up behind him and spoke, frightening him. "So the way I see it, we're all alike since you got no place else to go." She spun the orb that had been projecting the holograms on her finger. "The number one rule on this ship is that you got to work to eat. You can complain about it all you want, but before you do, make real sure your works done."

Hibiki got agressive. "So what do I do? What's my job supposed to be?"

Gascogne thrust a mop into his face. "Just keep a smile on your face."

"Whatever..." Hibiki mumbled.

"And you, the other one." Gascogne said, looking at Lelouch. "Since you take so well to that uniform, get out there and take over for Sandra, she's the brunette with the brown eyes and long hair." Gascogne smirked. "I promised her a break after she beat me at poker."

Lelouch sighed. "Fine, understood. Also, Hibiki?"

"Yeah?" The boy grunted.

"Sleep with one eye open." He said, making his way out.

Hibiki gulped.

* * *

"Sandra, right? I'm here to take over your shift, you're on break." Lelouch sighed, standing at the console after the brunette left.

And then the ship was attacked. Of course it was.

Soon enough, reg. Central was filled with women requesting the "A set", "B set", and the "Q set" mainly.

Soon enough, Hibiki burst out from the back, yelling about joining the fight. Lelouch sighed, before throwing up a smile at the last person to arrive. Which was, of course, Barnette.

And she didn't recognize him. She spoke to him just like she would any other woman onboard. "Hi, can I get the A set?" She asked, jovially.

"Sure. Would you like complementary homing missiles with that?" He asked, speaking in a higher pitch than normal. Oh, he was so going to mess with her with this one.

She put a finger to her chin. "Hmmm, I don't wanna weigh it down too much... but go ahead and put'em on." She waved, walking off with a "Thank you very much."

And once she left, Lelouch couldn't help but laugh. "She didn't recognize me! Hahahaha!"

Gascogne smirked, still holding Hibiki. "Aside from the maniacal laughter, that is what we stagehands do, got it buddy? Here..." She slammed him into a seat, and his arms and legs were promptly restrained. She ignored his indignant cries. "You're new here, so just take a load off and see how it's done. Though, your pal seems to have things well enough."

Lelouch grunted. "Make no mistake, I'd prefer to be out there. I'm only here because Hibiki shoved his foot into his mouth. I'd also like to have my pants back."

* * *

The dreads took a loose pyramid formation, holding their position until the orb made the first move.

The sphere stayed still, before it suddenly grew several tentacles from orifices all over it's body. The tantacles then became spikes.

The dread pilots all expressed their own disgust of the thing's new form.

"How endearing..." C.C. spoke, sarcastically.

"Sea urchin?" Jura muttered, hands over her face. "Hey, are we seriously gonna fight that thing?"

Meia responded. "Just calm down, Jura. Team leaders check and confirm your formations. All teams, commence attack now!"

The women all attacked the creature, firing off missile after missile at it, only for it's spikes to block them.

All of a sudden, it began spinning faster, and aimed towards the ship.

Ezra, alarmed, shouted "It's gonna ram us!"

"Young man!" Magno yelled.

"I'm trying!" Bart yelled, attempting to dodge the thing.

"Starboard arm is hit!" Ezra yelled, after the hit rocked the ship.

Bart didn't need anyone to tell him that, though. "AHG! My arm!"

"Enemy is coming around!" Belvedere yelled.

"Dread force is at eighty five percent!" That was B.C.

Back with the dread pilots, specifically Barnette. "That thing is just too fast..." They were unable to damage it.

Dita came over the comm. "Meia, let's get Mr. Alien out here!"

"The Alien?" Jura and Barnette had the same thought, and vocalized it.

"No. He is one of our enemies because he is a man, don't forget that!" Meia replied tersely.

"But he's a good alien!" Dita seemed to only care about Hibiki in regards to anything male related.

"I've told you before not to rely on the strength of others. This is OUR battle, and we'll fight it on our own!" Meia yelled.

Soon, Barnette realized she was low on ammo. "Miss Gasco, got an order to go!" She called out.

* * *

Within Reg. Central, Hibiki was shouting about how they needed him out there.

Lelouch was frowning as they continued to fire away at the sea urchin without affect.

"Hn. They can't defeat that thing with ballistics, it's a lost cause and a waste of ammunition. The spines effectively take the damage, and the missiles are simply not strong enough to damage the presumably weaker cover beneath." He muttered.

A girl handed Gascogne a list, and she formed her own plan.

Suddenly, a struggling Hibiki found himself released, and Lelouch had a hand placed on his shoulder. "You two, come with me. It's time you see what we stage hands do up close and personal."

Lelouch quirked a brow, and Hibiki did the same.

* * *

Soon we find Gascogne, Hibiki, and a normally clothed Lelouch, sitting in a ship loaded up with ammo and fuel for the dreads.

"Hang on." Gascogne said as the transport ship lifted from the main ship.

"Sure thing." Hibiki was being sarcastic.

"Very well." Lelouch held on.

The blasted off at high speeds, rushing through debris with ease. The ship soon stopped, and Gascogne called out. "Alright, girls, let's do this in one go. Fifty seconds tops, transfer!" The dreads of Jura, Meia, Dita, and Barnette all loaded up onto the ship, being restocked and refueled. "Only fifteen percent to go." The muscular women exclaimed.

"Look out!" Hibiki yelled, while Lelouch braced for impact. And impact there was, the urchin crashing into the top of the ship, scraping along it but not doing any noticeable damage.

"Is this what stagehands do?" Hibiki asked, nervously.

"See? I told you our girls weren't out there fighting alone, you finally believe me?" Gascogne was not letting him live that down.

A mechanical hiss signified the delivery had finished. "Delivery complete. Go give'm hell, girls."

"I'm so full!" Dita commented, much to Lelouch's silent amusement, before all of the dreads broke off from the ship and resumed the attack on the enemy.

Lelouch, ever the observant, noticed only a second before Hibiki that something was up. "You still have two shipments, why is that?"

"Yeah, what he said." Hibiki added.

Gascogne grinned. "Oh, is that so? Well, we brought'm all the way out here, so we may aswell use them."

The two men were confused, before their seats suddenly dropped them into the open hatches of their respective vanguards.

"What the, Anubis? You brought our machines out here?" Lelouch exclaimed.

"Whahooo! C'mon, Partner, let's do this!" Hibiki yelled.

The excitement was contagious to Lelouch. "Alright... Let's go!" He shouted, before the two machines dashed forward.

"Those machines..." Jura and Barnette seemed to be in sync, today.

"Mr. Alien!" Dita yelled.

"Well, well, well, they let you out of that dress, boy? Such a shame." C.C. taunted Lelouch.

"That's right, Hibiki's here!" The boy yelled.

"Damnit C.C., is now really the time!" A flustered Lelouch shouted.

Meia growled.

Lelouch powered up the more powerful, shoulder mounted hadron cannons. "Fire." He muttered, launching the beams directly at the urchin.

Much to the suprise of everyone there, the attack caused noticeable damage. The spikes that were hit seemed to absorb the blast, before cracking noticeably.

This was the opening they needed.

In the chaos of everyone attacking the urchin, Hibiki took a hit, knocking away his thrusters. "Ahhhg, damnit! Move damn you, move!"

"Mr. Alien, let's combine our fighters!" Dita flew towards his knocked out mech.

"Dita!" Meia yelled, pushing her dread infront of a shot from the urchin that would have destroyed Dita's, at the same time pushing the girl away.

"There's no way..." Meia muttered, angrily.

"THAT I'M GONNA LOSE!" Hibiki yelled. Suddenly, as if from nowhere, a blue energy shot from the thrusters of his vanguard which had _literally _regenerated from nothing, before flying toward Meia's dread.

The silver dread seemed to swallow the vanguard, before it changed. It now resembled a dragon of sorts, with large horns mounted on it's front, two wings, and two legs with three claws.

All in all, an imposing figure.

"So cool..." Jura gushed, while Barnette stared in awe.

"It's pretty." C.C. added.

"Intriguing..." Lelouch muttered. More likely than not, this meant Jura's Dread could combine with either his vanguard or Hibiki's, though he was willing to bet on Hibiki's.

Imposing or not, the sight one would find within this machine was nothing more than amusing. Hibiki lay on his stomach over the control panels of the machine, while Meia sat leaned as far backwards as she could, eyes closed.

"Uuuuuhnnnn..." Hibiki groaned, falling backwards in a daze. He felt his rear fall onto something soft, and his back had two soft things pressed up against it too.

"Ehhhg..." Meia moaned, feeling a bit nauseus. This feeling disipated in favor of shock and anger as she felt something drop, heavily, into her lap, before an unwanted pressure was placed on her breasts.

"Ehhh! What the hell're you doing in here!" Hibiki yelled, freaking out as he saw Meia.

"I didn't ask for your help and I don't want your help, so get the hell off!" She shrieked.

Hibiki yelled "If I could do that, don't you think I would!"

This entire argument was interupted as the sea urchin enemy slammed into their new machine, leaving them to land in a tangled heap of limbs. They untangled themselves quickly, lest anyone somehow see their embarassing position.

Oddly enough, Hibiki was first to calm down. Slightly. "Listen! We have more important things to do, is now really the time for this!"

Meia frowned. "No, I suppose you're right."

And then they fought the enemy. No, fought would imply the chance of failure; they demolished the enemy. It simply could not match them at all, and they tore it to shreads through use of the supreme speed and agility of this machine.

First they had tested it, ramming it, despite the spines that did nothing to this Vandread's armor, before it went for drastic measures. It stopped, and launched every last spine out at them. The Vandread dodged them all, before lining up a perfect shot.

"This is the chance..." Hibiki muttered.

"I've been waiting for!" Meia finished.

They fired off at speeds that left naught but a blur, tearing through the unprotected hide of the urchin.

And then they basked in the afterglow of a succesful battle.

"I told you-hah- that you-hah- couldn't win every battle-hah- with just your vanguard." Meia spoke.

"Doesn't the same-hah- apply to-hah- your dread?" He asked.

"I suppose..." Meia replied.

* * *

Back on the ship, Parfait told the crew to collect the spears, as they may have some use.

Later, she found that they would be able to hide the new message capsules that were to be sent, and that leads to right now.

"Even if they do reach them, there's still the chance they'll be ignored." Parfait sighed.

B.C. spoke. "Wish for it. Wish with all your heart, and I'm sure that one day they will reach their destination, and they will hear us out."

Parfait nodded.

* * *

A dead-tired Hibiki and moderately exausted Lelouch found their way back to the "Men's Quarters", also known as the brig. For some odd reason, Bart was hanging up what appeared to be white flags. Meh.

"Heya, Hibiki. You look pretty bad." Bart held out one of the pills he had been trying to sell back on Tarak. "Here, eat up. You'll need the energy."

Hibiki sighed. "Naaah. I don't feel like it." He leaned back against the wall.

And then Dita and Pyoro rushed in, handed him a circular box, opened his mouth wide, and stuffed it full of food. Pyoro then forced him to chew, and he swallowed.

Now, see, normally Hibiki would be pissed right the fuck off. However, he had just had his first taste of _real_ food. Literally, his first taste of anything that did not taste horrible. He never knew there was such a thing as good food.

And so of course his reaction was completely unexpected, as he scarfed down the food. It was then that Lelouch realized something that he really should have caught earlier; the ship had a cafeteria.

He felt like an utter idiot for not realizing that in the past week.

And then, Parfait walked in with a trio of boxes filled with fried rice and chicken. "Erm, hey. I, ah, wanted to give you guys this. I found a bunch of Tarak food pellets, and tried one. After that, I really felt like you needed to try real food." She handed them out, before waving. "Bye!" and then she was gone, leaving three more happily fed men.

Times like this, Lelouch really loved his life.

Until, of course, he found the picture of him in the Reg. uniform that was attached to the bottom of the box, with the words "Dude looks like a lady" written on it.

Damn that witch.

* * *

Annnnnnd that is that. Phew...


End file.
